


Independence of the Dark

by Dark_Callisto



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Dark Harry, Drama, F/M, Good Malfoy Family, Light Bondage, M/M, Manipulative Dumbledore, Powerful Harry, Romance, Smart Harry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-25
Updated: 2014-11-05
Packaged: 2018-01-13 18:14:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 46,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1236268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dark_Callisto/pseuds/Dark_Callisto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Harry learns that he had been a mere pawn in the grand scheme of "Greater Good", he vows revenge. With Sirius dead, Harry gives free reign to his darker side, only to discern the injustice and bigotry of the Wizarding World towards the Dark. The Dark needs a Leader, a Lord to lead them. Will the Savior become the Avenger? Eventual Harry/Draco slash. Very dark, powerful Harry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J. K. Rowling. No money is being made.

**Warning:** Eventual Harry/Draco slash. Includes a very dark/cunning/manipulative Harry.

A large thank you to my Beta lovingsiri for beta reading this chapter for me.

**...**

**Independence of the Dark**

**..**

**Chapter 1**

**...**

The windows rattled in their frames, as heavy gusts of wind battered the stone walls of Hogwarts. The weather outside the castle mirrored the turbulent thoughts inside the head of one very pissed-off Harry Potter who happened to be currently ensconced within the Room Of Requirement.

And the person who had roused Harry's ire was none other than the esteemed Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore. Staring at the small piece of stone on the floor, Harry suddenly smirked, realizing that the small crooked stone piece was the cracked nose of the old coot's statue; one that he had blasted not five minutes earlier. Sighing, he speculated about the events that had brought him running here.

**[begin flashback]**

Harry had been waiting for the headmaster to return from the Ministry after the fiasco that had happened at the Department of Mysteries. During this time his mind began running rampant, thinking-up various possibilities, all of them starting with 'what-ifs'. He knew he was wasting his time, thinking of all the alternative ways in which he could have saved Sirius. Because Sirius was DEAD and he wasn't coming back. But that didn't mean he couldn't wonder.

Cursing the headmaster for his tardiness, Harry stood up from his chair, which in truth was a rainbow-coloured monstrosity and glared at it. As if realizing the danger it was in, the armchair changed its colouring to black which suited Harry's current disposition perfectly. _Much better_ , Harry nodded in satisfaction.

He peered through the window and noticed the shadow that had fallen upon the castle grounds. He could see Hagrid doing some work in his garden while Fang stood guard, although Harry wasn't quite sure what Fang was supposed to be guarding. Just then, the headmaster flooed in through the fireplace dusting off the soot from his robes. _About time_ , Harry mentally groused. He needed some time alone to grieve for Sirius and he was not in the mood for the headmaster to monopolize him.

"Please sit down, Harry", the Headmaster said indicating the now black coloured armchair while he himself sat upon a winged back chair on the other side of the oak desk.

Harry plopped into his chair and resolutely stared at the inkwell perched on the desk. He wasn't going to start the conversation. The headmaster shifted in his chair slightly.

"Harry, my dear boy, I know that losing Sirius was a hard blow to you, but you mustn't blame yourself for his death."

"Headmaster, not to be disrespectful or anything, but what makes you think I'm blaming myself for Sirius' death?", Harry asked, but somewhere in the back of his mind, a snide voice chided him saying, 'Liar'. He wasn't going to deceive himself, he was perfectly aware that part of the blame rested on his shoulders .Not everything, mind you; but some part would always weigh on his conscience because Sirius wouldn't have even come to the Ministry if it hadn't been for him. But still, there was no need for Dumbledore to know that. It would be just like the Headmaster to exploit his guilt and manipulate him according to his plans.

Dumbledore looked taken aback for an instant, before he rearranged his expression into one of understanding. "Ah,ah..there is no need for dishonesty between us, is there Harry? I won't think any less of you if you accept the blame. After all, it maybe an exasperating quality, but nonetheless, it is a noble quality."

"I'm not lying Professor", Harry lied through his teeth. Only you, old man, would make me think it's a noble quality. When, in reality, it is such a stupid tendency to lay unnecessary blame at your own door when it is out of your hands. "Enough of this, Sir, I don't want to talk about Sirius anymore."

Dumbledore regarded him silently, willing him to look into his eyes. Harry stubbornly glared at a point over the Headmaster's shoulder.

"As you wish, my dear boy. Now I know, you want to know the details of the conversation that transpired with the minister and myself. Alas, I regret to inform you that once the shock of seeing Voldemort died down, the minister accused us of using illusions to deceive the ministry. The good news though is that some of the ministry officials who saw the debacle believe us. Thankfully, the contrary views amongst them and the lack of traces on the usage of any Illusionary magic, stopped the minister from arresting us right then and there. And, as he so eloquently put it, he was graciously allowing us to walk free just this once."

"The bastard. Why can't he acknowledge the truth that is staring him right in the face?" Harry burst out, an expression of utter incredulity on his face. How can anyone be so thick? The minister even made Crabbe and Goyle to look intelligent.

"Language, Harry", Dumbledore admonished."Now, don't lose heart. The Unspeakables are investigating the area where they are bound to find some evidences of an actual battle that had taken place and then they will be able to confirm that it was not a hoax created by us. Besides, Voldemort won't remain in hiding much longer, now that the copy of the prophecy is destroyed and there is nothing holding him back from revealing himself to the Wizarding World."

"A copy of the prophecy? Does that mean that the real thing is still out there?", Harry asked. Not that he particularly cared if it still existed or not. Obviously, the headmaster wanted him to ask the question, so why not indulge the old man?

"Ah, the prophecy. Yes, the prophecy at the Department of Mysteries, was only a copy of the original one. But do not worry, as the original one is my memory of the prophecy which was made to me and no one knows the content of it."

"A prophecy about me and Voldemort was made to you? By whom?", Harry inquired. Now that the possibility of hearing the prophecy was real, his curiosity was sparked. While another part of his mind was wondering, why the headmaster had not breathed a word about it to him all of these years, when he had obviously known about it for a long time.

"By Sibyll Trelawney, who is the great-great-granddaughter of a very famous, very gifted Seer, Cassandra Trelawney. It as on a cold, wet night sixteen years ago, in a room above the bar at the Hog's Head Inn. I had gone there to see an applicant for the post of Divination teacher but it soon became evident that Sibyll had not a trace of the gift herself. I told her, courteously I hope, that I did not think she would be suitable for the post and I turned to leave."

At this point, Dumbledore paused and got up to fetch the pensieve from the cabinet and place it on the desk. Placing his wand to his own temple, he removed silvery white strands of memory and placed it within the pensieve.

A figure rose out of it, draped in shawls, her eyes magnified to an enormous size behind her glasses, and she revolved slowly; her feet in the basin. But when Sibyll Trelawney spoke, it was not in her usual ethereal, mystic voice, but in the harsh, hoarse tones Harry had heard her use once before:

" **The one with the power to vanquish the - Dark Lord approaches…**

**born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…**

**and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…**

**and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…**

**the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…"**

The slowly revolving Professor Trelawney sank back into the silver mass below and vanished. Silence reined in the office as each were lost in their own thoughts.

Harry scowled at the pensieve. Did prophecies have to sound so dour? The prophecy wasn't much of a shock to him. He wasn't stupid, he knew it was related to something that had made Voldemort come to Godric's Hollow to kill him on that fated Halloween's night. To his surprise, he wasn't even scared that it would come to an eventual show-down between Voldemort and him, which would evidently result in only one of them surviving. Because, he would have tried his damn best to kill that pathetic creature which called itself Voldemort or died trying, prophecy or not. But still, it annoyed him that whatever he was going to do, had already been dictated by a fucking prophecy. It rubbed him the wrong way. But all of this begged another question, how did Voldemort come to know the existence of the prophecy?

"Sir, how did Voldemort come to know the contents of the prophecy?", Harry queried.

If Dumbledore was surprised regarding his lack of reaction and questions on the prophecy, he hid it well. He thankfully answered the question Harry asked, rather than pestering him about what his thoughts were concerning the contents of the prophecy; because he would have been sorely disappointed.

"Unfortunately, as I found out that night, The Hog's Head is not a safe place to carry out important conversations. One of Lord Voldemort's followers had eavesdropped on the interview in hopes of gathering some news for his master, and as the muggles would call it, had hit the proverbial jackpot-he had heard the starting two lines of the prophecy before he was detected and thrown out by the barkeeper. However ,the damage was done and according to the prophecy, there were only two viable candidates to fulfil the prophecy-One is you and the other is Neville Longbottom."

Harry blinked. Neville, huh? Neville Longbottom is a good person, capable of following and loyal to a fault, but he was no leader, Harry surmised. Now, I wonder why Voldie chose me rather than Neville? Perhaps, I'll ask him the next time I see him...

"Ah. I see. And perhaps, now I ask the most important question of all. Why had I not been informed about all of this earlier?" Harry bit out coldly.

Dumbledore peered at him from on top of his half-moon glasses, then sighed and looked out through the window before turning back to him. He had been hoping the boy would not ask him that question. Well, he had to give him some type of answer.

Harry tried to calm his enraged emotions as the old fool tried to sell him some story about how he had come to care for the boy too much and had been unable to foist such a burden on his young shoulders. _Codswallop!_ He knew very well that the headmaster knew that he would have been able to handle the truth in his second year, if not in his first year. The meddlesome coot had had some other agenda and he would find out what it was one way or another.

"I see", Harry replied, "and of course not telling me about the prophecy doesn't have anything to do with me being forced to stay at Privet Drive, does it Professor?", Harry asked in a deceptive voice. He had a hunch on what the Headmaster had tried to do and it made his blood boil at the thought.

Dumbledore blanched for a fraction of a second before he regained control of his expressions. "Of course not, Harry. I placed you at your relatives home for your own protection and theirs. I knew you would suffer ten long and difficult years, but it was the only choice for many of Voldemort's followers were still at large. Why, I was so happy when you arrived here , unfortunately malnourished-yet happy and had already made wonderful friends with the Weasleys before you even arrived at the castle. I couldn't have been more proud to see that you were a very humble boy instead of a pampered prince."

The last two sentences were enough to confirm Harry's suspicions. Harry stared at his hands, as he struggled not to throttle the headmaster. One which he was losing spectacularly as the frames and windows began to rattle, once his magic began reacting to his anger. _No... this is not the time to let my magic free_ , Harry decided. If the old goat saw his magic now, he would no doubt realize there was more to him than just his golden boy persona.

Harry abruptly stood up from his chair, and walked to the window to see the storm clouds rolling in the sky. Harry suddenly hoped there would be a thunder storm that night. And a heavy one at that. Bringing his emotions under control for the moment, he stated, "If that is all Professor, I'd like to retire to my dorms."

"Yes. Of course Harry. If you want to talk about anything at all, my doors are always open for you", Dumbledore smiled at him, however, not surprisingly his customary twinkle was absent from his eyes.

Harry nodded. Walking up to the door, he twisted the Griffin-head doorknob open and gently shut it behind him. Deciding quickly, he began to run to the Room of Requirement, knowing that it would provide him with what he needed.

He reached the seventh floor in record time and stood facing the stretch of blank wall opposite an enormous tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy's foolish attempt to train trolls for the ballet.

_I need some place to vent off my anger...I need some place to vent off my anger... I need some place to vent off my anger..._ , he thought, pacing in front of the wall three times.

Immediately, a large wooden door appeared on the wall and he quickly rushed inside, locking it behind him. That's interesting, he mused. The room had graciously provided him with human statues, and the statues' faces morphed into the faces of the people he dearly wanted to hurt badly, namely Dumbledore, Voldemort, Bellatrix, Fudge, Snape, Umbridge, known deatheaters and some masked deatheaters.

Harry grinned, twirling his wand in between his fingers. Pointing his wand right in front of Dumbledore's face, he shouted, " _Reducto_ " and watched in glee as the headmaster's statue was blasted into smithereens. And frowned when another Dumbledore took its place.

Incensed, Harry fired the reductor curse and the blasting curse rapidly, one after the other, at the statues and soon the room was filled with minute pieces of stone and dust, accompanied with Harry's yelling and sounds of stone blasting into high heavens.

" _Reducto!Bombarda!Reducto!Reducto!Reducto!Bombarda !Bombarda!Reducto_...", Harry cursed.

After nearly ten minutes of blasting statues into smithereens, Harry stopped, sweating and panting, covered in a fine layer of dust. True, that had been enjoyable, but it still didn't satisfy something deep within him.

**[end flashback]**

Harry's blood boiled at the audacity of the Headmaster. Harry had figured out the reason why the fool had not told him of the prophecy before. It was very simple. Dumbledore had wanted to mould him into a tool. A weapon. The old man had created the circumstances which would make him into his little golden boy.

He had placed him at Privet Drive, fully knowing that he would be abused there and that he would immediately warm up to anyone who showed him the least bit of kindness, once he was outside that household. And surprise _surprise_ , the first person he meets in the wizarding world is Hagrid who just so happens to warn him that all the bad wizards were turned out from Slytherin (conveniently failing to mention Sirius Black who they thought to be a traitor at the time had come from Gryffindor), thereby effectively pushing him in the right direction (atleast according to Dumbles). Coincidentally, Hagrid 'forgets' to inform him how to enter the platform 9 and 3/4, making him approach the Weasleys for their help, who for one are strong supporters of Dumbledore and a family of Griffindors. Crème de la crème, they too have a son who is entering his first year at Hogwarts, and surprisingly or maybe not-so surprisingly, young Ron couldn't find a single seat in the whole train, other than the one Harry was sitting in. How subtle was that? The whole story had 'Dumbledore' written all over it.

And when he was firmly under Dumbledore's control, through his little machinations, the manipulating old man would reveal the prophecy to him under right circumstances, and poor distraught Harry would look up to the man for guidance, to help him fulfil the prophecy and the old coot would once again manipulate him to fulfil his own plans for the 'Greater Good'

_Pity_. Harry had neither been distraught nor had he been under Dumbledore's thumb, as the man had previously believed. He had had suspicions in the past regarding Dumbledore and had even witnessed first-hand some of his manipulations, but he had brushed it off as not a big deal. Now, only now though, he had become fully knowledgeable about the true extent of the codger's manipulations and had received the confirmation he had needed to prove his suspicions.

Still, a small childish part of him hurt, the part which was his eleven-year old self's love for the kind, grandfatherly headmaster, before it too died abruptly, snuffed out by his more cynical and cruel side.

Harry supposed part of the blame lay with him, for turning a blind eye and allowing the old man to manipulate him. Well, no longer. His trust and respect for the Headmaster had been slowly dwindling since his fourth year. However, what bit of trust left in him for the headmaster was completely wiped out now. Why, he wouldn't be surprised, if all the adventures he had had at Hogwarts had been planned before by the man so that he could test him out.

In truth, Dumbledore might care for him, but he cared about the 'Greater Good' even more. He might even regret manipulating him, but probably consoled himself by deeming it necessary. His intentions for the Wizarding World were laudable, true, but not by achieving it using him as a pawn. It was his _fucking life_ , damn it!

He would show Dumbledore not to mess with him. He had trusted the headmaster and he had used him. Well, it ends now, Harry decided. He would not be a pawn in his blasted game. He would get his due, Harry vowed.

Harry started feeling melancholy, as his rumination turned towards his godfather, the only person who had truly cared about him. _HIM_ , not the boy-who-lived or lately, the pawn. Oh, how he wished, Sirius was here with him. Harry had already taken a resolve that he would not weep for his loss. His godfather deserved better.

Rather, he would avenge his godfather by killing that bitch, Bellatrix Lestrange as viciously as possible. Perhaps it was time for him to investigate those Dark Arts books he had seen at the Black Library. During his stay at Grimmauld Place, he had been feeling a draw to the Dark Magic that saturated the house. He had felt a bone-deep yearning to grab those forbidden books that called to him, that felt so deliciously dark and to lose himself within them. Unfortunately he had to reign in his longing, as Sirius would have been disappointed in him otherwise and that was the last thing he wanted.

He wasn't naïve. He knew his aura was dark as was witnessed by the number of thin black threads that seemed to appear in it.

According to the book, _The Mystery of Auras_ , only a person with a strong affinity to Dark Magic combined with an equally dark nature had black threads in their auras. An aura could have any number of colors ranging from vivid oranges to murky browns. Each color represented an affinity or an aspect of their personality whereas the thickness of the thread represented how much they embraced it. For example, a person may have a pale blue thread in their aura which represented compassion, whereas a sea blue thread again represented both compassion and their affinity to Healing magic.

He had been taken aback the first time he had seen his aura. It was during his winter break when he had been cooped up in Grimmauld Place with his emotions riding high. One minute he had been hitting the wall with his fist in sheer frustration and anger, the next minute, the very air had thickened around him and the heady smell of magic had permeated the air making him dizzy. For about a minute, he had seen a myriad of colours surrounding him before it had faded out as he soon as he had gotten his emotions under control.

He had wondered if the others would be able to see what he had seen, if Dumbledore would be able to see it. Thankfully, the book had addressed this topic as well. The book had made it clear that only an exceptionally powerful witch or wizard had the ability to project their auras. Usually, it would be because of strong unstable emotions, but if the person had fine control of their magic, then it was possible to project it whenever they wanted. A projected aura could be seen by wizards, witches, magical creatures, sometimes even squibs.

That is the reason why he had left the headmaster's office in a hurry. He wasn't ready for the old man to be on his guard against him, for he would be, once he took a look at his aura. For now, he wanted Dumbledore to underestimate him, it would only make his victory even sweeter later.

Glancing at his watch, he found the time to be 6.00 a.m. Hoping that his friends would be recovered by now, he went to visit them in the Hospital Wing.

**[(-XX:::::::OOO:::::::XX-)]**

Upon entering, he noticed that Ron and Hermione were bickering, as usual. Did they ever stop? It had been getting on his nerves lately. With a feigned smile, he waved at them. However, Ron glared at him and Hermione nodded tersely. Wondering what had crawled up their arse and died, he arched an eyebrow at them. It was Hermione who took a deep breath and started.

"It was all your fault. I warned you not to go to the Department of Mysteries, yet you did not listen. Had you listened to me, Sirius would still be alive and well. Now, because of you, he is gone and the entire blame in this, is yours. And now, you walk in like you do not have a care in the world and wave at us. Because of you, I took a nasty curse to my chest, which would have killed me and yet you smile at me, without any guilt. I am ashamed of you. How could you be so callous? Every year, you place us in one danger or another, narrowly escaping with our lives. I'm sorry, Harry, maybe I'm not, but I don't want to be friends with you any longer. I've got a future and I need to study for it."

Harry couldn't believe the nonsense she was spouting. Incensed, Harry impulsively stared right into her eyes. Suddenly, he did not know how it happened, but he was sorting through her memories rapidly collecting information. Then it stopped. Barely a minute had passed, but he had gathered all her thoughts into a single file. Then he turned to look into Ron's eyes, where the same thing happened, when all the while the redhead was giving his own prepared speech to him, with the brunette nodding her head apparently agreeing with something the former was complaining about.

Harry was dumbfounded, to say the least. He had somehow accidentally performed legilemency. He made a mental note to himself to analyze this new development later.

Then, Harry started processing everything he had seen inside their minds. It seemed their friendship had been nothing but a hoax.

Dear Ronald Weasley had been instructed by their Headmaster to befriend him on the train and had ordered him to support Harry in everything. In return, Ronald's career was guaranteed to be more successful than his brothers(which was his deepest desire) by either getting an amazing job in the ministry or perhaps by owning a Quidditch team (though how Dumbledore would manage that, he was quite unsure) and he would also be given some pocket money every month until his seventh year to buy some chocolates or trinkets.

The Weasley mother hen, Molly Weasley, had been bribed by Dumbledore, with the promise of wedding her only daughter into the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter. Thankfully, Ginny knew nothing about this and Ron had only known about this by eavesdropping on the conversation. Molly had also been promised that all her sons would be well-settled in the future in their respective fields. And Arthur Weasley was a good man who knew nothing about this.

Hermione Granger was nothing if not an ambitious witch. She had always wanted to be the friend of Harry Potter, not because she genuinely wanted to know him, but because she wanted his influence to climb up the social and political ladder. Oh yes, she wanted to become to be high-up in the ministry, with the group of underlings she could boss around. The witch had also made sure that none of the others in the school were able to approach him and make friends with him, jealous that they would also use his influence and compete with her. In their first year, the brunette had noticed him studying a lot, so she had conspired with Ron secretly to make sure that he was always kept distracted from his studies, with the purpose being that he would not end up topping her in the academics.

And in their third year, Ron had told her of Dumbledore's offer to him. Then, she had agreed with Ron to meet the Headmaster, so as to ask him to extend the offer to her as well. It had ended up with her getting two books of her choice per month, bought by the headmaster.

Well, could the day get anymore interesting, Harry mused. Betrayal after betrayal, was it ever going to end?

But, for some reason, he couldn't really dredge up enough emotions to feel sorry for himself. Oh yes, he had felt a sharp pain somewhere in his chest, when he had viewed their memories. But once he got his mind around their betrayal, he slowly thought about it. Was it really necessary to wallow in self-pity at the unfairness of the people around him? After all, he had already decided to shed his old persona from this day onwards, and being friends with them would only hold him back; because no way could they ever be seduced into the dark.

Making up his mind, Harry looked up at them. Ron was still going on,"...really, mate, they are just inflating your ego. After all, you are just an average wizard, are you not? Nothing special. You cannot beat me at Wizarding Chess either. No one can beat me, of course. You really shouldn't listen to them. You are just a scrawny kid. I don't know why I was friends with you all these days. You don't even get me anything big for Christmas or my birthdays. However, had you bought me a broom, maybe...blah...blah..."

After Ron finished his babbling, Harry quickly dredged up a few tears and started pleading in a small voice," Please Ron, Hermione, I'm sorry. I know it's my fault. I should have listened to your superior intelligence and stayed here, Hermione. Had I listened to your infinite wisdom, Sirius would still be alive. I am so thick-headed. And Ron, I am so sorry that I am such a pathetic friend. You are so brilliant; I am lucky to have such a friend like you. Please don't stop being my friends. I wouldn't what to do if you both abandon me. To make it up to you both, I'll get you a Firebolt for Christmas, Ron and I'll get you 25 books, Hermione. Will that satisfy you?"

Looking at their smug and greedy faces, Harry couldn't hold in his mirth anymore and burst out laughing. Merlin's beard, could they have been anymore obvious? Harry thought sarcastically. They had obviously wanted him to beg them, so he had instead decided to humour them.

Controlling his amusement, Harry glanced at their reddening faces and chuckled before continuing in a smooth voice, "Now that I have sufficiently stroked your egos, let us move onto more pressing matters. But before that I'd like to refresh your memory, Granger. You seem to have gotten some of the facts wrong. First is, yes, you warned me that it could be a trap; so, we had double checked and the blasted thing Kreacher lied to us. So, the blame for falling into the trap lies with Kreacher and not with me. Second, I never asked you to follow me; you followed me of your own free will and you faced the consequences for it. You were stupid enough to get yourself hit by Dolohov's curse and you paid for it. So, the blame for getting yourself nearly killed lies with yourself and not with me. Just wanted to get those two facts straight. And Ron, you are one very conceited arsehole. Now that all's said and done; Yes, please do; Do cancel the contract."

Looking at their confused expressions, Harry clarified, "The Contract, our Friendship, two books per month for Ms. Granger and pocket money for Mr. Weasley. Ring a bell?"

Harry smirked at the horrified realization dawning on their faces. Ron had a constipated look on his face and he could practically see the wheels turning inside Hermione's mind. They had obviously planned to kill two birds with one stone; that is, they had wanted to keep their contract with the headmaster intact and they had also wanted him to beg, so that they could graciously accept him back as their friend, once they had blackmailed him into getting something for them first.

Ron dumbly asked, "How did you know?"

Harry decided to let them stew on a lie for sometime, "Did you think you could fool me? No, I knew from the start that you were bribed by Dumbledore. I was pissed for a few days, then I shrugged it off. Bugger it, I decided, I have much better things to do. I still had some uses for you, after all. I had been resolved that, when the time came, I would drop you. After all, we weren't true friends, were we?"

Hermione replied with a small smile, "What are you talking about Harry? Of course, we are true friends. We were just bickering, weren't we Ron?", elbowing Ron in the ribs, who had been staring at Hermione slack-jawed and wide-eyed.

"Of course, mate. We both were just jiving you, I swear on Merlin's sagging scrot-"

Harry interrupted before he could finish that rather ridiculous expression, "Enough. I'm no naive fool. Even if you want to be friends with me, I don't want to be friends with you. So now that we've made that clear, I'm leaving. After all, I don't want to burden ourselves with each other's presence."

"Harry-", Granger started.

Harry had already reached the door and with his back turned towards them, he simply raised a hand halfway in farewell, "Have a good day" and left.

**[(-XX:::::::OOO:::::::XX-)]**

Harry walked out of the castle, deciding to visit the lake. He stood under the very tree where the Marauders had bullied Snape. When he had learned about what his father and Sirius had done, he had felt such righteous anger on behalf of Snape. Now, he couldn't even be irritated at them. He felt so emotionally drained.

The previous night' storm had cleared and left a bright blue sky behind. Harry climbed onto a low branch and rested his back against the tree trunk, one leg hanging free underneath him.

He wasn't exactly emotionally drained, per se. He guessed his emotions were lacking intensity, save for his anger, to which he supposed, there could only be two reasons. One, he was tired of people dying on him or betraying him, so maybe his inner self had finally decided enough was enough and had closed off his feelings; second, would be, some other thing could be at work here.

Or perhaps, it could be a combination of both.

Whatever it was, it gave him a sense of tranquillity, that he had not felt for a very long time. He had always worried, fretted, blamed himself for many things, and to be given a break to all those things was just a luxury to be enjoyed. Oh he knew, he would still very much come to care about the select people who might manage to worm his way into his heart, somewhere in the future, but he would not make it easy for them to gain his trust. He would not be fooled twice. If nothing else, he was a fast learner.

He needed to train, that much was evident. He still had one week of school left. He would have to make all the preparations necessary for him to escape from Privet Drive. He would start his planning today, once he made sure Ginny, Neville and Luna were alright; and also finding out where their loyalties lay.

His thoughts went back to Ron and Hermione, he knew he would have to deal with them again once the year started. Oh how he wished they would leave him the hell alone. Unfortunately, life couldn't be that easy, could it? They would try to latch onto him somehow once he came back to Hogwarts for the next year, no doubt brought to task by the Headmaster. Maybe he could somehow work that in his favour. He would have to keep the Headmaster and his group of sycophants off his back without rousing any suspicion, he knew that it would only make his blow all the more powerful, at the end.

Harry knew that he had enough money in his vault to make sure he could buy many books to study privately. Truly, he would have quit Hogwarts too, if not for the fact that he could recruit a lot of potential followers from the student population.

Wait. _WHAT?_ Followers? Was he trying to become a bloody _Dark Lord?_

* * *

 

**A/N:** I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please leave a review. Your reviews make my day !

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J. K. Rowling. No money is being made.

A large thank you to my Beta lovingsiri for beta reading this chapter for me.

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**Independence of the Dark**

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**Chapter 2**

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Harry dropped down from the tree he had been napping on for the past hour and sauntered into the Great Hall for breakfast. He noticed that only a few early-risers occupied the tables, as the others were probably enjoying the post-exam bliss in their beds. Lucky bastards.

Glancing around, he found Ginny, Luna and Neville sitting at the Gryffindor table, deep in some discussion. On seeing him, they waved him over. Harry nodded and neatly slid into the indicated seat.

"Are you alright, Harry?", Ginny asked with a worried expression on her face. She knew that losing Sirius would have hit Harry hard. After all, Sirius had been the father figure in Harry's life and in turn, Sirius cared for Harry as if he were his own son.

"I'm fine, Gin. How are you guys? I'm sorry you had to get involved in that with me. It's all my fault. I was so stupid to fall into that trap", Harry told them, his voice filled with regret. Truthfully, Harry didn't mean what he said but he wanted to test the waters and figure out where their loyalties lay.

"Don't be stupid Harry. How could you have known that it was a trap? You even checked with Kreacher", Ginny admonished him.

"Yes, Harry. It was not your fault. You shouldn't blame yourself", Neville stated with a stern look in his eyes and Luna was nodding her head, obviously agreeing with what he was saying.

Harry felt a huge rush of relief mingled along with some gratitude. He wouldn't be losing them after all. Harry smiled at them warmly, his green eyes sparkling.

"Did you visit Hermione and Ron?", asked Neville looking at him intently.

Harry's expression darkened at the mention of them, which did not go unnoticed by the others. "Aye. Visited them first thing this morning", Harry spit out.

"What did they do this time?", Ginny asked, with a hint of exasperation lacing her voice as she wondered at what her brother had done.

"They betrayed me. That's what they did. They've been spying on me for Dumbledore all this time and were also getting paid to be my 'friends'", Harry said in a low angry tone.

"WHAT?", Ginny shrieked.

"Whoa. Calm down, Ginny. I can understand if you don't believe me, but-", Ginny cut him off before he could finish that sentence.

"No, I completely believe you, Harry. How could I not?", Ginny assured him and continued," I know Ron better than anyone else and I can assure you that the prick is entirely capable of betrayal. But how dare he betray you! And that bloody Hermione, what has gotten into her? I thought she was alright. Stupid bint."

"Gin. Ginny. Sit down. I don't want everyone to know about this. I also want you to act as if you hadn't heard about this. I'm biding my time, okay?", Harry told her. He also did not want her to know about her mother's role in this. He would disclose that little fact, sometime in the future when the time was right, to ensure that she completely turned away from her family. Or at least her parents.

"I get it, Harry. But that doesn't mean I should like it. Merlin, how ever did that piece of shit known as Ron Weasley end up being my brother?" No one answered her.

"Harry, did Dumbledore actually do that? And how did you know?", Neville asked with an angry expression on his face.

"Yes, Neville. You wouldn't believe it but I somehow performed accidental legilemency on both of them this morning. Don't ask me how. It just happened."

Neville grinned wryly, "Harry, after all these years, I've learned to accept the fact that impossible things happen where you're concerned."

"Harry, never forget that our loyalty belongs to you first; not Dumbledore, but with you", Luna told him looking deep into his eyes. Ginny and Neville nodded solemnly at her words.

Harry nodded." Thank you. You don't know how much that means to me." And truly it did.

**[(-XX:::::::OOO:::::::XX-)]**

After bidding them goodbye, Harry climbed through the portrait hole. Thankfully, the Gryffindor tower was virtually empty. Harry entered his dorm and plopped down on his four-poster bed and closed his eyes. After a few moments of thinking, Harry got up to quickly grab a piece of parchment and quill from his bedside table and started outlining his plan for the rest of the week.

1\. Research on Hogwarts Sorting ceremony and customs.

2\. Take a look through the Restricted Section.

3\. Find out if there are any wizarding shopping areas other than Diagon and Knocturn Alley.

4\. Contact Gringotts.

5\. Clean the trunk.

6\. Avoid Dumbles, Ron and Hermione.

7\. Go to the Chamber and see if any of the Basilisk's parts or anything else can be salvaged.

He had decided that the Basilisk's parts were too valuable to waste and had resolved to collect it the second an opportunity presented itself. In addition to that, he needed to find a place to stay this summer. He refused to stay at Privet Drive and if it meant escaping from there right under the old man's nose; then so be it.

He couldn't stay at the Diagon Alley since the place was too obvious, he would easily be found out. Really, there must be other places in the Wizarding Britain, other than the Leaky Cauldron.

Harry left for the library. He had a lot of work to do and many plans to be made.

**[(-XX:::::::OOO:::::::XX-)]**

Harry had had a busy week. He'd _borrowed_ a few books from the library; mainly on Hogwarts sorting and houses. A hazy plan had been forming in his head for some time and it would need further research. While looking through the library, he'd been horrified when he noticed just how lax he'd been in his studies. He had vowed that he would catch up as soon as possible.

He had yet to receive a reply from Gringotts . Yesterday, he had sent a missive to the wizarding bank, enquiring whether he would be able to withdraw money from his vault, via his owl. Since it would be rather unsafe for him to personally visit Gringotts after escaping Privet Drive, he decided that using his owl would be the best way to get his money. He was sure that someone would report him to Dumbledore if they saw him loitering in Diagon Alley.

All in all, it had been a constructive week; the only thing that had marred it was the appearance of Hermione and Ron yesterday.

They had made to sit beside him at the Gryffindor table during lunch, pretending that any falling out had not happened between them. Only Harry was not in the mood to indulge them, so he had stood up just as they had taken their seat on either side of him. It had been very gratifying to watch their faces heat up from the blatant slur against them.

Another thing that had been eventful was the article published in the Daily Prophet. It seemed that the ministry was in a confusion on which side to take. Apparently, Fudge was reluctant to accept the truth and still claimed that the ministry had been hoodwinked; other people who were more level-headed sided with the truth.

Harry guessed that within a few months' time, the truth would be out, whether Fudge wanted it or not; because old Voldie would not remain in hiding much longer. Anyhow, all this uncertainity, along with him yelling "Voldemort is back !" during the last year, had obviously caused the majority of the Hogwarts population to side with him.

Harry was actually glad that the ministry had not confirmed that Lord Voldemort was back because this would buy him some much needed time to train and he would be ready to fight with a solid force behind him, once the war was declared publicly.

Harry slowly made his way to the Great Hall for the Leaving Feast; they would be leaving the castle tomorrow morning. He slid into the empty seat beside Neville and began piling large amounts of food onto his plate. He had been feeling unusually hungry lately and his appetite rivalled even that of Ron's. After polishing off half of his plate, he turned to Neville, "Where's Luna?"

"She said something about going to investigate a nest of wrackspurts", Neville muttered with a small smile.

"And you didn't go with her because?" Harry drawled, noting the longing expression on Neville's face.

Neville blushed," Shush, Harry."

"Really mate, you better ask her soon. She is beautiful and some other bloke might just take her away from you. Besides, I'm pretty sure she fancies you."

Neville remained silent for a few minutes before he nodded, a determined look entering his eyes. Harry turned away, knowing that Neville would follow through with his decision.

Harry discreetly scanned the Slytherin table and nearly choked on his laughter. The reason for his amusement was one Draco Malfoy who was presently sulking and glaring at him; but the entire effect was ruined by the pout the blond was sporting. On seeing him laugh, the blond huffed and turned to glare at Neville.

Harry simply shook his head and turned his attention on his nearly empty plate. During one of his epiphanies, Harry had decided that he would not blame Draco and the other Death Eater children just because of who their parents were; he would give them a fair chance to prove themselves to him even if they were all first-class _jerks_ most of the time.

Just thinking about the Death Eaters made his blood pressure soar. The _shoe-licking_ arses. Or maybe that's robe-licking. Whatever. And along with his anger, the slight itching on his back increased; like it had been happening on and off during the entire week. He must be developing a rash or something, Harry decided.

After finishing off his third helping of treacle tart, Harry stood up and left for his dorm after wishing Neville good night. The brunette was apparently going to wait up for Luna and Harry knew, they would be together by tomorrow.

Smirking, Harry returned to the dorm to collect his invisibility cloak and Marauders Map. He still had one more thing to do. He had not yet visited the Chamber. Leisurely, he began making his way, under the invisibility cloak, to the second floor girls bathroom or better yet known as Moaning Myrtle's hideout.

He quickly slid down the pipe after hissing the password. He had been expecting to get hit by the stench of rotting flesh, but surprisingly, none came. Grimacing, Harry hastily cast a cleaning charm on himself to get rid of the muck and slime from his robes.

He began walking down the tunnel until he reached where the tunnel had collapsed back in his second year. Deciding not to risk using magic and causing the tunnel to collapse further, he just shifted the rocks a little more and made the hole in the rocks just a little bit larger. After squeezing through the rocks, he continued walking down the hall way until he reached the chamber hall doors.

Hissing another password, he opened the doors. After he entered, he saw to his surprise that the Basilisk's corpse was as intact as it was after he killed it his second year. There must have been preservation and freshening charms cast on the entire chamber, Harry surmised. Harry truly marvelled at the power the founder must have had in order for his charms to last nearly a thousand years.

After some heavy pieces of spell-work, he had finally collected all the useful parts from the Basilisk along with its hide and placed it in two separate trunks before minimizing them and slipping it into his robe pocket.

Stretching his sore muscles, Harry looked around and shrugged. Figuring that since he was already down here, he could spend some time exploring the chamber. He, then, turned to face the large stone statue of Salazar Slytherin. On an impulse, he repeated what the Tom Riddle from the diary had uttered in Parseltongue.

**_"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four"_ **

Indeed the mouth of the statue opened wide and he was secretly and illogically relieved that no giant snake had come rushing out. He turned his wand on his own person and began levitating himself until he was safely standing inside the mouth of the statue. The inside of the mouth was actually a very large room which had formerly been the lair of the late Basilisk. The room was filled with bones and a few empty book cases.

Harry trailed his hand slowly, feeling the gouges the Basilisk had left probably by bashing its tail against it. As he was running his fingers over the wall, he felt a sudden prick on his finger. Quickly withdrawing his finger, he noticed a few drops of his blood smeared on the wall. Before he could speculate anything, a silver handle appeared on the wall.

Now intensely curious, he yanked it open, he strode in, his wand at the ready; only to have his jaw drop at the magnificent room he now stood in.

It was filled with piles and piles of gold and silver coins; emeralds, rubies, sapphires and numerous other priceless gems to which he did not the names of, lay in heaps. But what caught his attention was the hundreds of books occupying the silver shelves. Not even the books per se, but the language in which it was written in. Parseltongue. His breath caught at the darkness coming from some of those books.

Before he could reach out for those books, a spectre of the founder appeared in front of him. Before a blink of the eye, Harry had his wand pointed at the spectre, thoroughly unnerved. The founder appeared to be in his late forties, dressed in immaculate robes.

"Hello. I am Salazar Slytherin, Son of Septimus Slytherin. Pleasure to meet you."

Harry gulped softly. "I noticed. And I am Harry Potter."

"Calm down, heir of mine. I cannot hurt you. I am just a mere spectre. I have some things to say to you."

"What? I'm not your heir. Tom Riddle is." Harry informed him.

"Yes, he is descended from me but that doesn't mean he is my heir. He does not possess the qualities I search for. You do. In fact, you are my descendent as well, albeit in a round-about way, which is the reason why you have the ability to speak Parseltongue. These are the reasons why I have deemed to accept you as my heir. Riddle is far too power hungry to do any good in this world and all he will lead to is destruction. _And don't look so surprised_ , yes, even I want something good to happen to this world. Only I prefer to do it by using force and dark magic, which is why I have been labelled as evil", Slytherin said bitterly.

Harry looked gobsmacked at what the founder was saying. He was related to Salazar Slytherin?

"Alright, young man. Listen up. All of the items in this room belong to you now. You are free to take anything you want from here. If you want to relocate all this into your vault, you can certainly do so."

Harry nodded and moved towards the fireplace, noticing a wooden crate placed on the carpet next to it. Harry looked into the box to find three exotic coloured eggs occupying it.

"What type of eggs are these?", Harry asked curiously.

"Ah. They are the three mythical serpents eggs of the serpent lore. The serpents are one of a kind. Many wizards and witches in the past have searched for them far and wide. According to the lore, the story goes on to say that the three eggs were gifted by _Wadjet_ , the Serpent Goddess as a token of thanks to _Gaia_ , the Earth Goddess for her agreeing to allow the serpents to roam her earth.

I came across them quite accidently, to say the truth. The main catch is that they are very magical and won't hatch like normal eggs. Just like with the wands, they choose the wizard they find worthy and only then would they hatch. When, they didn't hatch for me, I safeguarded them by placing them here, hoping that maybe my heir would be chosen by them."

"And how do you know if the egg has chosen you or not?"

"You have to place your hand on them to know that."

Harry placed his palm on the sapphire blue coloured egg and it glowed red. Harry arched an eyebrow at the founder in question.

The man's face quickly broke into a large proud smile and said, "Yes, it has indeed chosen you. It has now started the hatching process and it will probably be over within the week or so."

Harry mirrored the look on the man's face. Just because he felt like it, he placed both his palms on the remaining two eggs, a shiny black one and a jade green one, and again, they glowed red. Harry turned just in time to see Slytherin's jaw drop.

"Does that mean in a maximum of a weeks' time, I am going to have three snakes slithering behind me wherever I go?" Harry asked. He didn't know whether to be pleased or horrified at the prospect of three snakes hanging around him all the time.

"Aye lad. I am so proud of you. I couldn't have found a better heir it seems. Now, I want you to wear the Family ring to accept the Lordship of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Slytherin. The ring rests on the pillow floating in the middle of the room."

Harry found the small black satin pillow floating to his chest level at the centre of the room and resting on it was a beautiful silver ring; a pair of entwined snakes constituted the band, their heads coiled around a sparkling emerald stone. Harry slowly slid the ring onto the middle finger of his right hand.

"It is beautiful, isn't it? Be sure to do me proud and restore our family's tarnished honour. Anyways, I have to get going now, now that I have completed my duty. And, by the way, my heir, the bookcases outside had about a hundred books which Tom Riddle took with him when he left Hogwarts. But, not to worry. All those books have a copy of them in here. Goodbye, young Harry. Until next time, then."

"Wait. What if I have to speak with you again?" Harry asked.

"There is a portrait of me in the dungeons, hidden by a concealing charm cast on it by Dumbledore. You can speak with me there."

Harry nodded. "Very well then. Farewell, Salazar Slytherin."

Harry watched as the spectre flashed out of existence.

Harry quickly emptied the bookshelves into a large trunk before he minimized it. He cast a warming charm on the serpent eggs before minimizing the crate. Just as he was about to leave the room, a goblet filled to the brim with pretty coloured gems caught his eye. He decided to pick three colours from it- green, blue and black-which perfectly matched his three little snake eggs. Slipping them into his pocket, he quickly left the chamber by once again levitating himself out of the pipe.

**[(-XX:::::::OOO:::::::XX-)]**

Harry walked down the steps and out of Hogwarts' main doors, dragging his trunk behind him. He still couldn't believe that all those things had happened last night. Only seeing Slytherin's ring on his finger assured him that it had indeed happened and that he was the proud owner of hundreds of parsel books, three yet-to-be-hatched mythical serpents and a vast fortune. Harry had charmed the ring using a parsel spell from the book, so that it was only visible to his eyes. Not even Moody could look through the glamour surrounding the ring.

Just then, Harry spotted the carriage and hauled his trunk into it. He was quickly followed by his fellow Hufflepuffs, Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott.

"Hey there, Harry", Ernie patted his shoulder.

Harry smiled. "Hi Ernie. Alright there?"

"Eh...yes" They made some small talk until they reached the Hogwarts Express but it was clear that there was something weighing on their minds. Harry decided not to push them, they would tell him if they wanted to.

However, before he could get down from the carriage, they stopped him. Harry arched a questioning eyebrow, Ernie took a deep breath and started, "Harry, we know that you faced Him at the Department of Mysteries and that the Ministry is trying to hush it up. Also talks of a prophecy regarding you and You-Vo-Voldemort are going around, I think we can guess at what it might say. But what I wanted to _really_ say is that, I want you to _please_ remember that you can count on us in anything you might want to do; we will stand by you, no matter what. I know that you have distanced yourself from Ron and Hermione, because of something they must have done to you; but you must remember that they aren't your only friends. I admit we have had our differences in the past, but I want to assure you that it won't be happening again in the future. We will remain loyal to you; come hell or high water. I swear that on Hufflepuff's badger of loyalty."

Harry felt an onslaught of emotions as he heard those words; swearing on their House's loyalty was one of the highest form of loyalty a Hogwartian could give. He could think of various scenarios that it could be put to good use. Harry grinned at them and nodded. "I will make sure to remember that. And I think I might just take you up on your offer sooner than you might think."

After waving them good-bye, Harry boarded the train and found himself an empty compartment. Using a nifty spell he'd learnt, he locked the door charmed only to open for Neville, Ginny and Luna.

After half-an-hour, the trio entered the compartment, completely out of breath. Harry nodded at them and went back to the book he was reading. It was a useful book on pureblood customs, practices and etiquette. He'd always been fascinated with the purebloods' ways; especially the Slytherins'. They just seemed to know so much about their history. When he had tried to talk to Ron about it, the redhead always brushed him off saying that it was all bollocks. But, now, Harry wondered if the weasel had just wanted him to remain in the dark; feeling secretly pleased that he had known something that Harry didn't. Anyhow, since Harry had decided to be independent, he saw no reason to deny himself his interests.

Neville and Ginny immediately began playing a game of Exploding Snap with Luna cheering for Neville; it was clear that Neville had indeed asked Luna out, if the small smiles that were exchanged between them was any indication.

Nearly, an hour later, someone started banging on their compartment door; it was Granger and Weasley. Harry sneered. Won't they _ever_ give up?

Hermione smugly pulled out her wand and tried to open the door; feeling superior in the knowledge that she would be able to break any spell he had cast on the door; only to find that the door wouldn't budge. The look on her face was priceless. After waving her wand for some odd minutes, she left, dragging Ron by the sleeve of his shirt , her face flushed red.

Shortly afterwards, Ginny left to meet with Dean. Apparently, she had promised to spend some time with him in his compartment. Luna immediately engaged Neville in a game of _Horn's Trumpet_. According to her explanation, he gathered that the opponents must make loud trumpeting noises after swallowing a grey looking mushy ball that looked entirely unappetizing, which apparently made the person to have a trunk of some magical creature, instead of a nose. The person had won the most rounds for trumpeting the loudest was the winner.

Hearing this, Harry sighed. It seemed people were determined on not letting him read in silence. He discreetly pulled out his wand and pointed at the pair of them and murmured a charm that made a sound bubble appear around the duo. _There_. That would do the trick. Now, they could make all the noises they wanted, he would remain blissfully unaware.

Neville, noticing this, sent a sheepish smile in his direction and mouthed 'sorry'. Harry simply smirked at him and went back to his reading.

Just as he was about to finish the book, Harry was interrupted by a pecking sound on the glass window. Harry peered at the window and noticed a great horned owl on the other side of it. He immediately stood up and opened the latch that had the window tightly shut. The owl quickly swooped into the compartment and perched on the rack. He knew the owl belonged to Gringotts from the seal on the letter attached to its leg.

Harry approached the owl and untied the letter from its leg. Hastily breaking open the seal, Harry started reading,

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_We here at Gringotts send our deepest condolences for your loss. In response to the question you posed, we would like to inform you that the option you asked for is available, among others. However, we also wanted to notify you that you have been requested to attend a meeting at Gringotts, in matters regarding your familial heritage. We would like to advise you that it would be in your best interests if you were to make this a high priority event, as it deals with certain urgent and delicate matters._

_Please apprise us the date and time of your visit with the Gringotts owl._

_Regards, Silvertongue, Gringotts account manager #1_

Looking up, Harry noticed that the owl was indeed waiting for his reply. He opened his trunk and offered the bird some of Hedwig's owl treats and water.

Harry began pondering on the issue at hand, slightly worried at the urgency he could practically feel in the letter. And what was this about his familial heritage? He didn't have any heritage, did he. Other than being the Lord Slytherin, which was only because Salazar had wanted him to be so. He had always assumed that, even though his father had been a pureblood, they were only moderately well-off. After all, from what he had heard, they had been living in a cottage at Godric's Hollow.

Curiosity prickled under his skin. He wanted to find out what all of this was about; at the same time, he also did not want to be found out by the Order. He could always use the invisibility cloak, he reasoned.

Making up his mind, he hastily scribbled out his reply,

_Gornun Silvertongue,_

_I will arrive at Gringotts by 3 p.m. this evening. Since I do not want to be noticed by anyone, I will be under my invisibility cloak, waiting for you near the 'Thief's Downfall' saying. From there, you could lead me to the meeting place._

_Regards,_

_Harry James Potter_

After sending his letter, Harry settled himself in his seat and proceeded to finish the book he had been reading.

**[(-XX:::::::OOO:::::::XX-)]**

From the outside scenery, Harry could tell that they would be reaching Kings Cross Station very soon. He placed the book back in his trunk and glanced towards the cuddling pair sitting opposite of him. It had been hilarious to watch the both of them panic when their trunks refused to re-phase into their original form; well, at least Neville had panicked, while Luna had just started petting her nose- _sorry_ -trunk and saying how pretty she looked with it. Thankfully, the trunks had faded back after some cajoling from Luna.

Finally, as the Hogwarts Express coasted to a stop, Harry stood up and stretched.

"Hey, you two. Break it up. I'm sure you'll have all the time in the world to snog during your summer. Because we have to leave now."

Neville just laughed, while Luna looked up at him dreamily and said, "Jealous ,Harry? Don't worry. You'll find someone to snog and fornicate too. Sometime in the near future I'd say."

Harry refused to blush at that comment and stuttered out a ' Thanks, Luna' with a 'Have a great summer, you guys' and quickly escaped from the compartment dragging his trunk behind him.

Really, someone needed to control that mouth of hers. Grinning, Harry stepped out onto the platform and instantly noticed a small herd of redheads milling about some ways away. He swiftly blended in with the crowd and made his way towards the barrier, tactfully avoiding them.

Harry mentally patted himself on having escaped the Weasel Mother Hen. He would have liked to meet the twins to gauge their alliances, but, unfortunately, that had to wait. Since, he would have no doubt cursed the Weasley matriarch if she had spoken to him. Perhaps, hers was the most stinging betrayal of all, since he had truly come to look up to her as a surrogate mother. Shaking his head free from all of those painful thoughts, he swiftly crossed the barrier.

The first thing Harry noticed when he emerged out of the barrier separating Platform Nine and Three Quarters was his beloved uncle who was rather inconspicuous with his walrus sized body; and attached to his arm was his dear aunt Petunia, and hiding behind her and failing miserably at that was none other his favourite cousin, Big D; all of whom were looking suspiciously at something towards his right side.

With a dawning understanding, Harry agilely spun on his heel toward his right and saw the small group that had been standing to the side of the barrier, comprised of Mad-Eye Moody, Kingsley, Tonks and Mr. Weasley.

Harry managed to hide his grimace just in time. Instead, he sent a small smile toward them and waved.

"Wotcher, Harry", greeted Tonks.

"What are you people doing here?" quizzed Harry. He was, in fact, very curious about what they were doing here. He wondered why Remus wasn't with them. Harry had a passing thought that maybe Remus placed the blame on him, just like the others. As quickly as that thought had come, he just as quickly banished it. He would not worry unnecessarily until he knew the truth.

"We just came to send you off Harry. And also to speak to those relatives of yours", replied Mr Weasley.

"Indeed. That'll be them, then?", Moody asked pointed towards the Dursleys.

"Yes. But I don't think it's such a good idea", Harry told him.

However, they proceeded to ignore him and made their way to the huddling Dursleys. Harry was furious, to say the least. There they go again, Harry mused. They never listened to what he had to say. As far as they were concerned, he was just an over-emotional teenager.

He didn't want them to threaten the Dursleys. It would not sit well with his plans at all. Since all this would do was make the Dursleys that much harder to convince later, damn it !

Once the Order had finished threatening his relatives, they asked him to promise that he would write a letter at least once every three days. Thinking fast, Harry informed them that perhaps he would write them a letter once a week. Unless, it was Mad-Eye guarding the house, he would have at least one week before the Order noticed him missing.

Waving them good-bye, Harry followed the Dursleys out of the railway station.

**[(-XX:::::::OOO:::::::XX-)]**

Harry watched in fascination as his uncle's flabby face in the rear-view mirror changed colours at a rather alarming rate; a large, ugly, purple vein throbbing on his forehead. Harry wondered if all this would cause the man to have a stroke or something. Harry sure hoped so.

True, he had been furious when the Order members had threatened the Dursleys without consulting him first; but, Harry had to admit that he was certainly enjoying the outcome of it.

Harry observed his uncle as the man's beady little eyes frequently darted to look at him in the rear-view mirror. He was obviously concocting some plan to torment him during the summer or perhaps, he was just plain scared that Harry would transfigure Dudley into his natural form of a pig.

At least Dudley seemed to be following that train of thought, for he still had his pudgy hands firmly gripping his bottom, looking at him from the corner of his eyes and trying to sit as far from him as possible, which wasn't saying much seeing as he nearly occupied three-quarters of the back seat. Ever so slowly, Harry pulled out his wand from his pocket and casually started twirling it in between his fingers, looking at Dudley sideways.

Dudley immediately paled and squeaked. "Mu-Mum!" Petunia slowly twisted her giraffe look-alike neck in his direction to glare at him. Harry arched an eyebrow at her and dismissed them both. He opted to look out the window rather than watch the three peculiar beings occupying the car with him.

After more than half an hour of blaring horns and traffic, Harry was grateful when Vernon stopped his car in front of the house. Harry had been positively itching to curse some of the muggle pedestrians who appeared right in front of the car, seemingly out of thin air, causing Vernon to abruptly slam the brakes, which in turn made the fat lump of lard that was Dudley to land on him.

Harry had a feeling that he was doing it intentionally. After the third time Dudley had tried to squish him, Harry had pointed his wand right in between Dudley's eyes; after which the lard had stuck to his own side of the seat rather than on his lap.

Another thing was that, as if on par with his anger, the constant itch on his back had been fluctuating from hot to cold and vice-versa. Perhaps, he should take a look at his back when he came in contact with a mirror next time. He had never heard of rashes developing temperatures.

Harry got out of the car and immediately noticed Tonks, who was hiding behind the six feet tall oakleaf hydrangea bush, with her hair colour charmed to be a green that matched the bush she was hiding behind.

Tonks was a great auror, true; but she was completely lacking in the Stealth and Tracking department as Harry knew from previous experience. She was quite young and na **ï** ve. Maybe he could try to steal her from the bumbling fool's clutches. She could be a spy within the Order. That was a nice thought, Harry mused and made a mental note to himself to consider the idea at a later date.

Well, for now, it would be a piece of cake to escape under her nose. Thank Merlin that it had not been Moody who was the watchdog.

Harry quickly followed the Dursleys into the house, knowing that they would lock him out just to spite him. Not that it would stop him. It was just that Harry was simply not going to waste his time fighting with them; especially when he would be leaving in a few short hours.

Harry swiftly dragged his trunk upstairs and sneered at the cat-flap and locks adorning his door. Pushing it open, he placed Hedwig's cage on the table near the window and quickly emptied the contents of the trunk onto the bed; thankfully, he'd cleaned his trunk at Hogwarts. Otherwise, it would have taken hours together to get rid of all the debris that had accumulated in his trunk all these years.

Now, all Harry had to do was separate the items into two piles; one, he would be taking with him while the other would be put back into the trunk. Harry pulled out a rucksack and placed the books he had nicked from the library inside the bag, which was then followed by his invisibility cloak, photo album, shrunk firebolt and the knife which Sirius had given him; he caressed it affectionately before placing it gently inside wrapped in a soft velvet cloth.

The knife had melted when he had tried to open a room at the DoM, but after a few days, when Harry had been packing his trunk, he had found that the melted knife had regained its original shape. Harry could only guess that it was some sort of inherent magic that the blade of the knife must have been imbued with, making it virtually impossible to destruct.

Subsequently, he filled the rucksack with the miniaturized boxes of Basilisk potion ingredients, Basilisk hide, Parsel books, and the serpent eggs along with the small pouch containing the three gems he had taken from the chamber. Then, he drew the drawstrings firmly shut.

After having changed into a set of fresh clothes, Harry put the pile on the bed back inside the trunk, figuring that the Order would make sure that the trunk would be returned to him. Grabbing some muggle and wizarding money along with his Gringotts key, Harry flung the rucksack onto his shoulders and made his way to open the door; only to be stopped by an indignant hoot coming from the other side of the room.

" _Shite!_ ", Harry cussed. He had completely forgotten Hedwig. Slowly, he turned to face her with a sheepish smile and was graced with an annoyed look.

Harry approached the table and crouched low to meet her at eye-level. "Sorry girl. I was in a bit of a hurry. Forgive me?" Harry asked with an innocent look in his eyes.

Hedwig hooted imperiously. "Promise not to bite me?" Hedwig huffed and hid her face under her wing. Harry had enough scars on him to make him remember that Hedwig was a vicious biter. Not so surprisingly, Hedwig was refusing.

Harry smirked. "Fine. Be like that. But I'm not letting you out until you promise not to bite me. I've got time." Harry stood up and made a show of settling himself comfortably in his chair.

After about five minutes of being on the receiving end of Hedwig's death glares, Harry thought that if looks could kill, he would have been five times under by now. Then finally, Hedwig hooted in acceptance. At Last.

With a smug look, Harry opened her cage, and she immediately took flight to land on his shoulder; her claws digging into his skin. Petting her head fondly, Harry instructed her," I want you to return to me in two days' time. Make sure that no one is following you when you find me. Be discreet and fly safe. I won't lose you too, Hed."

Hedwig hooted in understanding. She knew that her master had suffered a lot in his life and she would not make him suffer by getting herself killed. Not that anyone could kill her, of course. After all, _she_ was the Queen of the skies, the fair and beautiful Hedwig. And she would peck all those who dared harm her human to death.

Hedwig nuzzled her master's cheek affectionately and nipped his ear, maybe a bit too hard, but it wasn't a bite . She had not broken her promise. She had not drawn blood, had she?

With a joyous hoot, she flew out through the window and took off into the sky.

Harry marvelled at his familiar's beauty as her feathers shone a brilliant silvery white under the sun. Once she was out of sight, Harry sighed and made his way down the stairs.

First thing, he noticed on entering the living room was that Vernon and Petunia were engaged in a furious spat, while Dudley remained oblivious to his surroundings, watching the television slack-jawed with a bit of drool escaping from the corner of his mouth. Harry shuddered in disgust. Filthy _pig_.

Turning his focus onto the still verbally sparring duo, Harry gleefully thought, 'Trouble in paradise?' Not wanting to interrupt, or Merlin forbid, stop their altercation, Harry settled down on the sofa without making a sound.

After about ten minutes of delightful entertainment for Harry, Vernon took a deep breath and casually glanced around; not having expected him to see him there, he did a sudden double-take and started sputtering, "You-you-" Petunia turned to the source, wondering what could have caused her husband to have such a violent reaction; only to see her nephew lounging lazily on the sofa, watching them with a gleeful expression and an unholy gleam in his eyes.

Petunia started reddening; making her look like some weird plucked chicken, in Harry's opinion; in embarrassment at the thought that the boy had seen her fighting and had obviously taken some perverse enjoyment in watching them argue. She shuddered.

Vernon, meanwhile, had regained his breath and yelled out, "Boy! How dare you show your face down here? "

"We need to talk ", Harry stated, wiping his face clear of any expression.

"Not bloody likely. This is my house and I WILL not be taking orders from the likes of you, boy", Vernon growled out.

"I said we need to talk. So sit." Harry repeated more forcefully. If he said 'boy' one more time...

"NO boy !"

"SIT." Harry yelled, his magic moving like a whiplash, pushing Vernon into his armchair. "And if you call me 'boy' one more time, I will personally make sure that it will be the last word you will ever speak. Understood?"

Vernon nodded dumbly.

"Good. Now, I'll be leaving this house but I don't want the Order to know that I have left. I want you to fool the Order as long as you can manage into making them believe that I've been skulking inside my room or with some such excuses."

"And why should we do that for you? And why are you running away?" Petunia asked.

Harry sneered. "If you don't, then they'll find me and bring me back here. You don't want me here, do you? If I could buy myself some time however, I'll be long gone and they won't be able to find me until the 1st of September. As for my running away, it is none of your business. But since, you asked so pleasantly, I'll answer you. It is me making a statement that I will not allow those sodding idiots to dictate my life."

"Fine. We will do it. You better be grateful for all the sacrifices we make for you" , declared an obviously recovered Vernon, very glad that this would be the last they would be seeing of the boy.

Harry snorted derisively. _Riiight_.

"What should we say when they eventually find out that you were not here all along? What if they try to harm us?"

"Just tell them that I wanted to be on my own and that I had asked them not to look for me; that I will meet them at King's Cross on September 1st. Oh, and tell them to dispose my trunk which is in the bedroom seeing as I am going to buy a new one and I've already taken the things I need. And don't worry, they won't harm you or anything. They're way too pathetic and cowardly to harm a muggle."

"And will this be the last time we will be seeing you, bo-potter?"

Not bloody likely. They will be seeing him one more time in the future, if he had his way. "Maybe. Maybe not. You never know. So better be prepared", Harry warned them cryptically.

Picking up his rucksack, Harry flung the invisibility cloak around him and coolly walked out through the front door. Harry felt a small amount of sympathy for Tonks; a very miniscule small amount, mind you; who would be feeling some heat from the Order members, for having allowed him to escape under her watch. Harry shrugged his shoulders. Whatever.

Harry reached the front gate and turned around to consider the square house he had spent more than half of his life in. Harry suddenly smirked darkly. Oh yes, he would be returning one last time. No doubts there, Harry decided.

After all, he hadn't thanked them properly for the generous and affectionate upbringing they had given him. Surely, it would be blasphemous if he didn't repay them in kind, would it not?

On that positive note, Harry started walking towards the nearest bus stand with a decidedly malicious look in his eyes.

* * *

 

**A/N:** I know the storyline might be a bit cliché, but what can I say? I'm rather addicted to them. So, I'm just indulging myself. To all those who love these type of dark Harry fics, I hope you are not disappointed with it. I try my best. Please leave a review on what you think. Constructive criticism is always welcomed. And flames will be banished to hell. lol.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J. K. Rowling. No money is being made.

A large thank you to my Beta lovingsiri for beta reading this chapter for me.

**...**

**Independence of the Dark**

**..**

**Chapter 3**

**...**

After arriving at the bus stop near the Leaky Cauldron, Harry quickly made his way to the dingy pub. However before entering it, Harry discreetly made sure that none of the muggles were watching him and swiftly covered himself with his invisibility cloak. He pushed the door open and took one step into the pub before his nose was assaulted with the smell of Firewhiskey and other vile concoctions. He could see a hag nursing a large glass filled with a bubbling acidic neon green liquid that had something suspiciously looking like fingernails floating in it. Harry nearly gagged upon seeing the contents in it.

Harry hastily turned his eyes away from the revolting drink and glanced around the pub to see if he could spot any of the Order members present in the vicinity. The first Order member he spotted was a red-faced Dedalus Diggle who, to Harry's immense surprise, was squabbling furiously with a middle-aged woman whom Harry did not know the name of. He had always assumed Dedalus Diggle to be a soft-spoken man, perhaps a tad bit easily excited. While he did not know the woman's name but he remembered that he had seen her a few times at Grimmauld Place, thus leading him to believe that she was an Order member as well.

Thinking quickly, Harry firmly shoved his morals to the side and decided to eavesdrop on their conversation. Morality was nothing but a hindrance, Harry decided cynically. Harry had guessed that there was an even fifty percent chance that they could be arguing something Order related. Silently, he sidled next to the pair of them.

" I tell you Hestia, what he is trying to do is not right", Dedalus Diggle insisted.

Hestia made a placating gesture with her hand and said," I know that Dedalus but what else can we do?"

"But it's unfair to the boy", Diggle growled with an angry expression on his face. "And he is such a sweet boy too", he muttered to himself.

Hestia shushed Diggle and continued in a quieter voice, " Life is unfair, Ded. We must all make sacrifices and this is the boy's turn. That's all ."

Diggle shook his head with a stubborn expression on his face. "How can you say that? That boy has made enough sacrifices, Hestia. There is no need for more. I still believe that what we are going to do is not right. At the least, we must ask the boy's permission. We are violating his trust."

Hestia simply opted not to further discuss the topic. They were in a rather public place and they had already discussed much more than it was safe to discuss outside of warded doors.

Harry silently left the duo with a contemplative expression on his face, once it became apparent that they were not going to be discussing any more Order business.

From the 'boy' Dedalus Diggle had mentioned, Harry knew he could safely assume that the 'boy' they were referring to was himself. But who was this 'he'? Harry could only think of one person who would violate his trust and make the others think that it was the right thing to do too. Harry sneered. Albus Dumbledore. Really the man had no boundaries, did he?

Well, whatever he was trying to do, Harry was going to put an end to it once he knew what was exactly going on. Harry's thoughts drifted to the concerns voiced by Dedalus Diggle. Perhaps he could try to manipulate him to sympathize with his plight for freedom with a few crocodile tears. Harry smirked at the thought. Really. It was blatantly obvious that the man had a soft spot for him; he could capitalize on that. Harry really needed someone in the Order on his side to spy for him. For now, there were two potential candidates; Tonks and Diggle. Perhaps, Remus too. He still didn't know where he stood in all of this.

Harry stood patiently in the small, walled courtyard of the pub, waiting for someone to tap on the stone bricks so that the archway could open. Just then, a portly witch holding a cat entered and did exactly that. Harry quickly slipped around the witch and entered the alley and gasped. The twisting cobbled street was bustling with people doing their shopping and hardly an inch of space was left free for a person to move undetected. How on earth was he going to get to the bank?!

Scowling, Harry navigated the crowd occupying the streets. Damn crowds. Harry clenched and unclenched his hands. Cursing the people won't help a thing, Harry sternly told himself. Really, how come so many people wanted to shop at the same time?

When he'd assumed that he would hide under the invisibility cloak, he'd never taken into account the difficulty it would present for him to make his way through a crowded alley-way. His cloak was pulled and prodded in all directions; he was slightly scared that it would tear or something. Thankfully, no one bothered to check out the invisible body moving among them. After all, weird things were a common occurrence in the wizarding world. Why, even now, he could see wizards like Mundungus Fletcher selling potions that had a person grow a third arm whose effect lasted for an entire hour.

**[(-XX:::::::OOO:::::::XX-)]**

Harry grinned. Finally. He looked upon the towering snow-white building that was Gringotts and could spot a pair of goblins standing guard at the burnished bronze doors. Harry swiftly climbed the marble white stone steps and silently slipped past the guards. The entrance led to an ante-chamber that had a set of solid silver doors facing him.

He made to stand beside the silver doors and glanced at his watch. Harry groaned. He was 15 minutes early. Usually it would not have been a bad thing , only the goblins were never anything but punctual, and they wouldn't arrive a minute early or a second too late. Sighing, Harry looked at the words engraved on the doors.

**_Enter, stranger, but take heed_ **

**_Of what awaits the sin of greed,_ **

**_For those who take, but do not earn,_ **

**_Must pay most dearly in their turn._ **

**_So if you seek beneath our floors_ **

**_A treasure that was never yours,_ **

**_Thief, you have been warned, beware_ **

**_Of finding more than treasure there._ **

Huh. That was very informative, Harry observed. It obviously indicated the security measures that were in place for the intruders which just made Harry all the more wonder what they were. He had never seen anything out of place during the cart ride to his vault. So, the security must be for the older purebloods' vaults, Harry surmised.

Just then, Harry caught sight of Moody approaching the entrance doors. _Shite_ , Harry cursed and ducked into a crook in the side wall. Thankfully, Moody did not notice him and entered the main chamber through the silver double doors. Harry slowly let out the breath he had been holding. It would have been rather degrading had he been caught by that paranoid bastard.

Harry slowly moved to a corner and slanted his shoulders against the wall. Now, he had a clear view of the people entering the bank as well as the people exiting the bank through the silver doors.

Just when he was about to doze off due to the fact that he hadn't slept a wink the previous night what with his sojourn to the Chamber of Secrets and all; Harry caught sight of a platinum blonde head a.k.a. Draco Malfoy, dressed in impeccable black robes, leaving the bank with a house-elf in tow. When the blond had descended the steps, Harry was pleasantly surprised to see Malfoy waiting for his house-elf to catch up with him. And when the elf toppled in its haste and fell on the hard ground, he was even more surprised to see Draco enquiring whether it was okay. Harry had simply assumed that Malfoy would just ignore it and expect it to pick itself up and follow him. It seemed that the blond ferret had grown up without him knowing. How was that possible? Harry wondered. He always kept tabs on Draco Malfoy.

As if hearing Harry's thoughts, Draco's shoulders stiffened and he slowly turned to face the bank . His eyes began searching for something only he knew and those mercury eyes passed the spot where Harry was hiding several times. After a few minutes, Draco swiftly turned on his heel and left. Within minutes, he was lost in the crowd. Harry sighed and leaned his head back on the wall.

**[(-XX:::::::OOO:::::::XX-)]**

At exactly 3 pm, a stocky goblin fitted out in a pinstripe suit stepped outside of the silver doors and casually made to stand beside it. If anyone noticed an extra goblin guarding the doors, they thought nothing of it. Harry slowly approached the goblin and quietly asked "Are you Gornun Silvertongue?"

The goblin glanced in the general direction of where he was standing and nodded imperceptibly. Then, Silvertongue turned on his heel and swiftly entered the spacious white marble hall. There was a long counter on one side of the hall where nearly a hundred goblins sat on high stools behind it. On the other side, there were innumerable doors leading off the hall to goodness knows where.

Just when Harry was guessing which door they were about to enter, Silvertongue made for the door marked with the number 1. Yet another pair of goblins wearing uniforms of black and silver stood outside, guarding the door. However, unlike the other goblins, these two were equipped with weaponry; the pointy-nosed goblin was holding an axe in his hand while the other one was gripping a spear.

Harry wondered what he would do if they chose to attack him that instant. He quickly reassured himself by patting the wand residing in his pocket. Then out of nowhere, he was suddenly hit by the question of what he would do if he ever lost his wand during a battle and immediately grimaced at the thought.

Merlin, he was pathetic. He really needed to train. But when he thought of all the training ahead of him, Harry couldn't help but feel slightly depressed. He was very excited, true, but he was nonetheless slightly depressed at all the hard work that he would need to put in after five whole years of lazing around. Oh, he wasn't scared that he would slack off because he would not. Once he made up his mind, he would not easily be deterred. Besides, he was at a loss of how he was going to learn so much within three months' time. Maybe he could try to find a time-turner in some of the illegal stores in Knockturn Alley. That would surely buy him an additional three months' time to train.

Harry breathed deeply. He would find something; he always did, Harry assured himself. With that in mind, Harry focused on the conversation that was taking place before him in rapid Gobbledegook. Harry could understand some of the words the goblins were saying, since in a burst of impulsive curiosity during his fourth year, he had decided to learn Gobbledegook. Only it had lasted for a month or so, before Hermione had admonished him for wasting his time to learn a not-so-necessary language. Only now he realized, Harry knew it was just her jealousy speaking.

Finally, Silvertongue pushed the door open and paused for a few moments to allow him to slip inside. Harry glanced around the ornate room he was currently ensconced in. It had an high arched ceiling and the stone walls were decorated with paintings that depicted the Goblin wars on one side while the other side of the wall had rows and rows of portraits, all of them featuring aged goblins attired in flowing robes, not much unlike the wizarding robes; the floor was covered in a thick gold carpet that had an oriental design on it. And sitting behind an elaborate mahogany desk was a wizened old goblin with wise black eyes, clad in sky blue robes. He had long white hair that was tied with a gold ribbon.

"You may remove your cloak, Mr. Potter", stated Silvertongue who had entered the room after him.

Harry slid the cloak off from around his shoulders and turned to face Silverhook expectantly.

"Please take a seat, Mr. Potter. This is the Chief Goblin Fireclaw who is the Head of the Gringotts Bank as well as one of the Elders of the Goblin Nation."

Harry inclined his head respectfully in the Elder goblin's direction before he took the indicated seat. He already knew that the Goblin Nation was led by a council of twelve Elders although he was slightly surprised to know that the Head of Gringotts was an Elder. " It is an honour to meet you, Gornunuk Fireclaw. But, what is it that has had you request me to attend this meeting?" Harry asked.

Harry could tell that the chief goblin was very pleased when he addressed him properly with the goblin honorific. " It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Mr. Potter. However before we begin, I must request you to allow us to take a look at your back", the Elder goblin told him.

"And why is that?" Harry was immediately on the defensive. For all he knew, this could be some sort of trap set by his enemies and when his back was turned, they would probably stab him. The only thing that stopped him from pulling out his wand was that he did not want to insult the Elder Goblin and also he had a feeling of safety radiating from Fireclaw.

"Because we're bound by the oath not to reveal any secrets to you unless you bear the mark on your back", Fireclaw informed him.

Harry sighed. He couldn't help but think that they were speaking the truth. He also knew that whatever it is they were searching for was most likely on his back. Harry came to the conclusion that it must have something to do with the weird itching on his back that he had been experiencing for the past week. Harry stood up and unbuttoned his shirt before sliding it off completely. He wasn't particularly embarrassed about his body. Due to his overly large clothing, many assumed him to be on the thin side. No, instead, he was lean muscled and slightly tan from all the quidditch practices for the past five years. Although, he was slightly disgruntled with the fact that he was one of the shortest blokes in his year. But, Sirius had assured him that he would hit his growth spurt in his seventh year, just like his father. Harry could only hope.

Harry slowly turned and displayed his back to the two eagerly waiting goblins to which the response he got in turn was a gasp and a gleeful chuckle. This response made Harry wonder as to what exactly was on his back. In his haste, he had completely forgotten to check his back in the mirror, as he'd promised himself he would do.

Harry looked at the chief goblin from over his shoulder and arched an eyebrow in a silent question. Fireclaw just conjured two mirrors out of thin air and angled the mirrors so that the reflection of his back in the first mirror was in turn reflected on the second mirror placed in front of him. What he saw indeed took him by surprise but Harry didn't let any emotions show on his face. There was a beautiful tattoo done in black ink adorning his back. It was a stunning combination of intricate designs done inside an elaborate oval frame and the oval frame in turn was engulfed in swirling flames on both sides. The flames started from just above the small of his back and ended in a swirling tip a few inches below his neck. If he looked closely, he could make out a few letters written in a language he wasn't familiar with inside the frame among the designs. However, the most enthralling effect was the way the flames seemed to shimmer and move whenever he slightly changed his position.

"What does this mark mean?", Harry inquired.

"It means that you are one of the chosen ones. But the question remains. Will you be able to make it unlike the others? " Fireclaw muttered the last sentence to himself.

Harry quickly put on his shirt and reoccupied his chair. He was very curious to know what the tattoo was all about. He had heard that comment about 'chosen ones' and he was slightly exasperated with this new development. Really. Could anymore weird crap happen to a person?

"Mr. Potter, you must be wondering about the mark on your back. Tell me, Mr. Potter, how much do you know of your family history?"

"Well, as far as I know, the Potters are an old pureblood family whose origins date back to the early 12th century", Harry recited the only piece of fact he knew about his family.

"I see. Please follow me, Mr. Potter, this may take a long time to explain. Silvertongue, you may remain here, if you wish, since you've already heard the story numerous number of times since your childhood."

Silverclaw simply nodded and began ruffling through some documents he'd brought with him.

The chief goblin rose and made to stand beside a metal door which had been previously hidden from view with the help of some warding charms Harry figured. Fireclaw ran a long fingernail along a vein in the intricately designed door.

Harry quickly followed him into the side-room. This room was just as elegant as the former room he had been in. Only it had an unused air about it. Without wasting time, Fireclaw immediately led him to the first painting on the wall and allowed Harry to observe it for some time.

The painting obviously depicted a meeting hall where rows and rows of seats were raised around a circular podium. However, the most interesting and unbelievable thing in the painting was that the meeting room was not just filled with wizards. Instead, the wizards were in conjunction with various magical creatures like vampires, goblins, werewolves, centaurs, merpeople, veelas, leprechauns, etc. From the arrangement, it was blatant that both creatures and humans were involved in some sort of political discussion.

Harry was shell-shocked at what the goblin was showing him. Surely this was not real. It just meant that a painter somewhere had an over-active imagination.

"No, Mr. Potter. I know you are thinking that this is just a fantasy painting, but that is not the case here. This is the hard truth of how it was once. Both creatures and wizards were given equal rights back then and were allowed to participate in the government. All magical creatures had a spokesman present on their behalf in the House of Magical Beings."

Harry turned to look at the painting once more with undisguised awe on his face. He simply couldn't wrap his mind around the concept.

"It wasn't the 'Wizarding World' back then", the goblin said, disdain dripping from his words."It was recognized as the Magical World. There was no Wizengamot or the House of Lords, where only wizards are allowed to participate. No, it was the House of Magical Beings where any and all creatures that had the ability to speak were allowed to be present."

"And there was no discrimination against the creatures?", Harry asked.

"No. The wizards were afraid of incurring the wrath of the Dark Ones."

"Dark Ones?" Harry couldn't help but think that the name was a bit pretentious.

In answer to his question, Fireclaw pointed him to the next painting. There were four people in it- two men and two women- all of whom were exceptionally beautiful but the most captivating thing was their eyes. It did not have any white surrounding the pupils. Instead, the whole eye was a swirling pool of vibrant colour.

"The Dark Ones were the rulers of the magical world. They were a combination of creature and human. As hard as they tried, they could not remember how they came into existence. It would always remain a mystery to them. So, they called themselves the 'Dark Ones' for they were masters in the Dark Arts; it came as easily as breathing to them. In addition to that, they were immortal. They maintained peace and bred equality among the magical beings. Both Dark magic and Light Magic was respected and practiced by everyone" Fireclaw began pointing to each of the figures and told him their names.

The tallest crimson-haired man with midnight black eyes was Agron. He had his arm wrapped around a slightly shorter man who had raven-coloured hair with glowing silver eyes known as Javed. Standing slightly apart from them was a blond haired woman with sea blue eyes called Galena who was enfolded in the arms of a taller dark haired woman with amber eyes known as Seshafi.

And all of them radiated power. No wonder they were able to rule the magical world, Harry thought.

"After a long reign of peace, nearly 5000 years ago, a wizard named Aeron was born. He was not powerful but he was very sly and had the ability to move crowds with his words. So, when a few rogue creatures killed his sister, he started revolting against the Dark Ones in secret. He started spouting propaganda and the like. Within a few short years, almost all of the wizards rallied to his side. However, what sealed the wizards victory was his highly underhanded move.

You see, the Dark Ones were very powerful, true, but even they had a weakness. Their son, Cailean O'Dorchaidhe. It is a Gaelic name which means 'young warrior- descendant of the Dark One'. Since the four of them were attracted to their own gender, they were not able to procreate. So, they performed a dark ritual to create a wizard child with their genes. Aeron kidnapped 5-year old Cailean and threatened to kill him if the Dark Ones didn't kill themselves. Now, this is where we come to the series of events that had been set in motion that has resulted in your mark."

Harry unknowingly leaned forward, very much caught up in the story.

"The Dark Ones decided that they wouldn't let their death be in vain. So, after receiving the oath that Cailean wouldn't be harmed after their death, they fearlessly killed themselves by slitting their throats. After their deaths, Aeron quickly secured victory in a short span of time. He followed that by setting laws that declared the magical creatures to be beneath wizards and the use of Dark Magic illegal. He also destroyed each and every record that had any mention of the Dark Ones. These paintings are one of the only records present that could be secretly salvaged from those times. He was the person who founded the Ministry of Magic and named himself the First Minister of Magic.

However, the prohibition of Dark Magic led to a great many number of wars among the wizards themselves, giving rise to Dark Lords, but none of them ever fought for the freedom of the Creatures. We, creatures, were treated as vermin and were only barely tolerated by them. When, in truth, the magical creatures were the ones who came into existence prior to the Wizards, but somehow, they always fail to remember that fact."

Harry could feel his blood boiling when he thought of this Aeron person. He couldn't just let things be, could he? He reminded Harry an awful lot of Albus Dumbledore. He was also furious with the way wizarding world treated the Creatures. He could remember countless instances which clearly portrayed the bigotry of the wizards against creatures.

Unaware of Harry's rather violent thoughts, Fireclaw continued," However, what the others did not know was that the Dark Ones had cast old magic before killing themselves to make sure that their magic was preserved in their heir's line. So, when a worthy wizard was born of their blood, their magic would reassert itself in that particular person's magical core and they would receive some of the characteristics and power similar to that of a Dark One. This wizard would lead the Dark to its freedom. The task of finding and informing the chosen one was given to us goblins which is also one of the reasons we opened Gringotts. But, this inheritance doesn't mean that you will become powerful in a day. No, you will have to train and train hard."

"And when will this said change take place?", Harry asked. He certainly wouldn't mind a boost of additional power. He was powerful, true, but he still didn't have as much magical potential as Voldemort and Dumbledore.

"The change takes place when the person turns sixteen but this does not mean that they will be able to make it through the change. Usually a person's magical core once formed will not take kindly to any change done to it. So, once the old magic has been triggered, your core has no choice but to change and if it doesn't, you may end up dead or even worse, as a squib. It depends on a person's will power to make it through. In all these years, only four people have been marked but none of them made it through the change."

Nothing could ever be easy, could it? Harry sighed. Well, No Pain No Gain, it seemed.

"Take a look at your family tree. The O'Dorchaidhe line lasted 700 years before it was unable to produce a male heir and the female heir was married into the Edna family. Due to similar circumstances, the magic was transferred through five families before it was brought into the Potter family 600 years ago through the marriage of Vasilisa Darth to Corvus Potter. Vasilisa was the direct female descendant and heir to the O'Dorchaidhe line. Of course, she didn't know that. The O'Dorchaidhe line was completely forgotten by then."

Harry nodded."Isn't there any way that I could come into my inheritance before my birthday?" Harry asked in a curious voice. After all, his birthday was nearly two months away and would it not be better to train with those yet-to-be-known skills of his for three months rather than just one month?

Fireclaw considered that for a moment, his mind quickly at work searching for a solution, before he replied," There is no potion to achieve that. However, if you become the Lord of the House of Potter now rather than on your sixteenth birthday, the Magic will recognize that you are ready to receive your inheritance now itself. This is the only loophole available to us."

Lord of the House of Potter? Wait. How could that be? As far as he knew, only the rich purebloods like the Malfoys, Blacks, Parkinsons had a seat on the House of Lords. After all, he had never heard Mr. Weasley referred to as Lord Weasley, had he? So, how come the Potters had one? He would get his answers later, Harry decided.

Harry nodded resolutely, "Then we will do that."

The Elder goblin gave a grin and continued in a rather grim tone, "Before we do this, we still have some delicate matters to discuss regarding your Black fortune."

Harry just blinked before understanding dawned in him along with a crushing wave of sadness. Bellatrix, he reminded himself. Bellatrix was still out there and he would kill her, crush her as inhumanly as possible and watch as her life drained away from her body. And he would enjoy every second of it, he vowed.

Harry nodded and indicated for the Chief goblin to lead the way. Once they entered the main office, Harry noticed that Silvertongue had left the room during their absence. Shrugging his shoulders, he resumed sitting in the chair he'd vacated earlier. He watched as Fireclaw rummaged through his drawers and pulled out a thick sheaf of parchment along with a glass sphere.

After placing the glass sphere right in the middle of the table, he announced," This is the Last Will and Testament of Sirius Orion Black."

Just like Trelawney had risen from the Pensieve, a revolving figure of Sirius came out of the sphere and started,

"I, Sirius Orion Black, being of sound mind and body, do hereby declare this my Last Will and Testament. I direct that my godson, Harry James Potter, be the executor of my estate and work in cooperation with Gringotts Bank to carry out the provisions stated in this Will.

I, hereby, name Harry James Potter my heir and bequeath the title of Lord Black to him including all of the social and political obligations thereof.

The provisions are:

First, to my best friend, Remus John Lupin, I leave a sum of 200,000 galleons and a villa in the Erudian Forests. I kindly ask that you would buy yourself a large wardrobe of clothing, Moony. Merlin knows I tried. I know there is no need to say this but please take care of my Harry and always support him in whatever he does.

Second, to my cousin Andromeda and her family, I leave a sum of 50,000 galleons. Andromeda, I wish we could have spent more time together catching up old times but it was not meant to be. So, I wish you a good life, dear cousin of mine. Tonks, you are a great person and you should always do what your heart says. I know that you hold authority in high regard, but also beware of their fickleness.

Lastly, I leave the remainder of my estate and assets to my godson, Harry James Potter. Harry, always remember that I will love you forever, no matter what you do. Follow your heart, Harry. It will always lead you right. Also, beware of the cobwebs surrounding you. Remove them and you will have a much happier life. That is all I can say for now. And remember, you can always count on Remus.

To everyone else, see you until we meet in the great beyond..."

Harry wiped the corner of his eye from where a single tear had escaped without him knowing. Grief tightened his heart. Sirius must have known the duplicity of the people around him. Why hadn't Sirius warned him before? Perhaps, Sirius had been scared that he would not believe his words. He could only wonder. After composing himself, Harry looked up at the Chief.

"As you can see, Mr. Potter, Sirius Black named you as his legal heir which means you are set to receive all the Black fortune and properties. However, I was visited by the Chief Warlock Albus Dumbledore a few days ago. He requested to view the will of Sirius Black. After examining it, he left the room slightly displeased. The very next day, he brought with him a legal document which practically reinstated him as the financial holder of the Black vaults until you came of age. This could be done because he is now your temporary guardian until you turn seventeen. The document also included a clause that stated money could be withdrawn from the charge's vault to fund organizations. I quickly realized that by the mention of organizations, Dumbledore was referring to his own group known as the Order of the Phoenix."

Harry surmised that this must have been what Diggle had been talking about. So, Dumbledore had obviously presumed that he could steal money from _HIS_ vault without him knowing. Harry particularly didn't care much for money but he would rather die than allow Dumbledore's wrinkled old hands anywhere near his possessions. Besides, Harry figured that the money could be used to fund his own side in the war.

"So, instead of agreeing with Dumbledore, I asked him for a few more days' time to ponder on this matter. Dumbledore had failed to consider the fact that in case you became Lord Black, he wouldn't be able to be the financial holder or your guardian."

Harry smirked. "Then could you please present me with my family rings, Gornunuk Fireclaw?"

"Of course, Mr. Potter. However, the instant you put on the Potter ring, you must know that you will start undergoing the change."

Harry nodded. He knew that the possibility of him surviving the change was very slim. But, he wasn't scared of dying. At least not much. This was bound to happen anyway. So, better sooner than later.

"I've got a question. After the change, will I be a creature or a human?", Harry asked. He didn't care what he was either way but he figured that knowing couldn't hurt.

"You will not become a creature, Mr. Potter. Rather, you would be a human who has some of the characteristics similar to that of the Dark One. You will know more about it after you've completed the change"

Fireclaw produced a black silk cloth upon which a beautiful but simple ring rested, done in white-gold with a large square black diamond fixed on top of it. Harry placed the ring on the little finger of his right hand. After a brief flash of magic had passed through him, recognizing him as the new Lord Black, Fireclaw slowly opened a thick velvet cloth to reveal a twisted golden band that had a griffin head on top of the ring. The eyes of the Griffin was replaced with two small rubies. Similarly, the sides of the band had 3 inlaid rubies on either side of the Griffin head.

Harry placed the ring on the index finger of his left hand. Harry was about to ask more questions about the Potter fortune but before he could do that, he was suddenly consumed by a wave of intense pain. Noticing this, Fireclaw immediately led him to a door at the far end of the office, which when opened, revealed to be a bedroom tastefully done in blues and golds. Harry quickly lay down on the bed before he was wracked with another bout of crushing agony.

Merlin, he had not known that there was pain worse than the Cruciatus curse or that it was even possible. But fuck, he was experiencing it firsthand now. Every nerve ending in his body felt like it was being electrocuted. His chest was burning a hole inside him. It felt as if his blood had thickened and he couldn't even breathe properly. _Shite_. Was he going to die after all?

After enduring hours of agony, Harry wanted to die but at the same time, he didn't want to. How many hours would it take for this to end? He felt so thirsty. Although, it was hurting like hell, he refused to let a sound escape him. He could feel the coppery taste in his mouth from his bitten lips. The only thing that had him from giving into the blissful darkness was his resolve. Resolve to prove that he was much better than the others who didn't make it, more powerful than them. Resolve to prove to the wizarding world how wrong they had been. Resolve to kill Bellatrix. Resolve to prove to Voldemort that he was the most powerful. Resolve to make Dumbledore pay for his mistakes. Resolve to win the war for the Dark. Until then, he would endure...

**[(-XX:::::::OOO:::::::XX-)]**

The first thing he felt when he regained consciousness was the feel of cool silk sheets against his naked back. Subsequently, he was hit by the joyous realization that he was alive; he had made it through the change when none before him had. Harry grinned. He had felt the Power that came with the change. It was still out of his reach but he would conquer it. Soon. During his unending agony, Harry had come to a startling conclusion. Power. Glorious Power. Only Power mattered in the world. Not blood or status as the majority of the Purebloods believed.

Smirking, Harry opened his eyes only to close it immediately in the next instant. He vigorously rubbed his eyes before he opened them again. Nope. Everything was the same, only a ten times more clearer and vivid than he'd ever seen things before. He didn't even need his glasses. So, enhanced vision was one side-effect, Harry noted.

Actually, it made sense. His magical core was large but the Dark One's magical core was much larger. So, when the two of them merged, his survival instincts would have kicked in subconsciously and would have tried to channel some of the excess magic to his extremities. Harry guessed that he would probably have enhanced hearing, sensing, flexibility, and speed amongst other things.

Harry stood up gracefully and slipped on the dark green silk robe that had been placed on the night stand beside his bed. Tying the belt, he moved to stand in front of the large full-length mirror propped against the wall and gasped. The person in the mirror was him, no doubt about that; only, much more handsome. The changes were subtle. He had been good-looking before; but now, his features had a more refined look to them.

His cheekbones and jaw were now even more chiselled than they were before along with a firm aquiline nose. His rather thin lips had slightly filled out and now looked an enticing blood red. His mop of dark hair had lengthened and fell to his shoulders in neat waves and shone a lustrous raven-black from the early-morning sunrays reflecting on it.

He'd even gained a few inches height. Although, he would never be as tall as Draco Malfoy, he now stood at a height of 5'8. However, he was slightly annoyed with the fact that his tan had faded off giving way to glowing porcelain complexion. (He wasn't sure whether he liked it or not. He'd always been of the opinion that only blondes looked good with porcelain skin like Draco Malfoy.)

However, the most captivating feature on his face were his eyes. They now resembled a deep vortex of vivid greens, without any whites, just like the Dark Ones' eyes.

Before he could continue his ogling, he was interrupted by a polite clearing of the throat from the Chief Goblin Fireclaw. Harry turned to face the goblin who had a huge grin plastered on his face, "I believe congratulations are in order, Lord Potter."

Harry simply smirked smugly and replied, "Indeed, Gornunuk Fireclaw."

After a few minutes of small talk, the Chief Goblin resumed a more serious air, " Mr. Potter, it is indeed an admirable feat to have done this but you must be aware that you now have a huge well of power that resides in you, on par with Dumbledore and Voldemort. But, unlike them, you haven't harnessed it yet. But, also unlike them, your magical core is much wilder and if you don't control it, it will begin to control you. We will provide you with instructors who are the best in their respective fields ."

"And why would you do that for me?", Harry asked with honest curiosity in his voice.

"You are the Dark Ones' heir and it is our duty to provide whatever it is that you require."

"And is that all?", Harry asked, knowing that the goblin wanted to add something else as well.

"No, that's not all. You should know that the goblins were the most trusted beings by the Dark Ones. We were the most loyal and the most powerful. The one thing they clearly stated to us when they assigned us our task was that there would be no more wizards marked in the future, once the Chosen heir had successfully undergone the Change. So, this means that you are the last hope for the Dark."

"Even if I die, there is still Voldemort. He is still fighting for the dark, isn't he? Why won't you help him but only me?", Harry asked. He already knew the reason but he still wanted verbal confirmation from the Elder goblin.

"As I said earlier, many Dark Lords were there in the past but, not one of them ever fought for the creatures. Oh, there were several clever ones who allied themselves with some of the creatures but once the war was won, they were cast aside. The dark lords fought for power or for the right to wield Dark Magic by the wizards or like in Voldemort's case, for muggle subjugation. But never for us."

"And what makes you believe I would?", Harry asked, testing the Chief goblin.

"I know that it was presumptuous of me to assume that, but I still do. I can clearly see the fire that burns in your eyes whenever I speak of the bigotry against the creatures. So, I know that you will fight for us."

"Indeed, that was presumptuous of you, but nonetheless true", Harry quietly noted.

"Thank you. It means a lot to me to hear that from you. Like I said, this is not just a wizard's war like the countless ones' before. No, this will be a war which involves everyone. Both wizards and creatures. This is the one chance where the Dark will rise once more or it will meet its end once and for all. This will be our last stand. But, I must warn you, the Goblin Nation will be involved only if you prove to us that you are able to control your magic. We would rather perish than follow a mad leader who is a prisoner of his own magic."

Harry nodded. He would never be controlled by anyone or anything ever again. He was free at last and nothing would ever hold him down. He would destroy everything that was an obstacle in his path to freedom. Even if it was his own magic. Harry pivoted to face the mirror with a sinister smile and an unearthly glow in his green eyes.

* * *

 

**A/N:** Hey guys ! Don't forget to leave a review and I promise I won't forget to answer them. It just takes a minute or two to show your appreciation.:D


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J. K. Rowling. No money is being made.

**WARNING:** There is slight M/M and F/F interaction at the end of the chapter. If you are averse to it, please skip that part. I have indicated the starting and ending of the paragraph by quoting _[slash scene]_ and _[end slash scene]._

A large thank you to my Beta lovingsiri for beta reading this chapter for me.

**...**

**Independence of the Dark**

**..**

**Chapter 4**

**...**

Harry stepped into the en-suite bathroom and smirked in appreciation. Really, the Goblins loved to decorate anything and everything with jewels. The bathroom was mostly done in black marble and held an ivory bathtub large enough to accommodate at least six to eight people. Right above it though, there were at least a dozen golden taps; all of which had a different coloured gem atop it serving as the knob.

After filling the tub with hot water, he swiftly twisted the blue crystal knob allowing the water to mix with a particular fragrance that had caught his fancy. He breathed deeply savouring the sweet smelling liquid which had a slightly woodsy blend to it. Slipping off the green robe, he slowly immersed himself fully in the water and closed his eyes, allowing the warm water to soothe him.

Merlin, what a day it had been.

As if everything had not been enough, Fireclaw had given him another bit of startling news. Apparently, the Dark Ones had a castle where they had lived and ruled in, hidden away somewhere. They had done so, knowing that Aeron would never rest until he had purged every last evidence of their existence. So, they had sealed it off using some branch of obscure magic so that no living being could ever enter until the true heir stepped foot inside the dwelling.

Unfortunately, this had meant that neither could young Cailean enter the castle. Though the Dark Ones had been saddened by the fact; they had no choice, since the place had possessed nearly centuries worth of their experiments, tomes, dark artifacts amongst other things and they simply couldn't let them be destroyed. So, instead they had set up a large manor and an immense fortune for Cailean, leaving the goblins to look after their son.

Harry really had to appreciate the goblins' cleverness. Following the Dark Ones' orders, it seemed that the goblins had slyly offered their help to the wizards to look after their finances by opening a wizarding bank. Fortunately, since the wizards knew nothing about managing finances, they had no choice other than to accept the Goblins' help. They had indeed kept a tight rein over the goblins at first, always suspicious of them; but over the years, they had forgotten their past grievances and had become used to it.

_Foolish of them_ , Harry thought sneeringly, _or perhaps rather human of them_. Had anyone noticed, they would have noticed that goblins were the only magical creatures involved in the day-to-day lives with the wizards. Now, they held almost eighty percent of the Wizarding economy within their control. Unfortunately, the remaining twenty percent was held by some other independent managements. Although the goblins believed that with some careful planning, it would be no chore to gain control of them as well.

Really, the goblins had accomplished their task beautifully up to the mark. _And the wizards have no idea_ , Harry thought gleefully.

So, that was what he was going to do today. He was going to visit the castle to ascertain if anything his ancestors had left him could be used in the war or at the least for his training. Besides, he was slightly in a dilemma as to where he should stay for the summer. The castle or the Labyrinthine Alley?

Just as he'd guessed, the Wizarding Britain did offer a lot more places to visit than just the Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley; Labyrinthine Alley being one amongst others. Labyrinthine Alley was mostly inhabited with hotels and resorts but all of them were on the rather expensive scale. Usually, the tourists and the ministry officials visiting the country stayed there. Well, they certainly wouldn't be able to stay at the Leaky Cauldron.

So, before he'd come to know about his inheritance, he had planned on staying at the Labyrinthine for the summer, since nobody would have thought to search for him there. If anything, the Order would search for him at the Leaky Cauldron. Staying there would have caused a dent in his savings for sure, but he had figured it would have been worth it.

After all, it had an alley branching from it known as the Risqué Avenue which was basically a red-light district that catered to the tastes of everyone. Well, he was sixteen and curious. Taking a look around wouldn't hurt, would it? But, now that the option of staying at the castle was available, the latter certainly appealed to him. Seriously. He owned a _bloody castle_.

Well. He'd decide after taking a look at it. For all he knew, the castle could be swarming with ghosts. After all, ghosts certainly didn't classify as living beings, did they?

In addition to that, he would also be visiting his vault to collect some money and to also evaluate its contents. He had to buy a few things; especially clothes. Since he'd always been on a budget, he'd never spent any money on himself. Maybe it was time to change that now, Harry mused.

Sighing reluctantly, he stepped out of the water before he could end up as a prune. He had already flushed a light pink. Merlin. He really wanted his tan back. However, he had a sneaking suspicion that even if he spent a whole month under the sun, he wouldn't tan; he'd only end up burnt.

Grimacing slightly, he wrapped the blue towel around his slender hips and strode into the bedroom, immediately noticing a fresh pair of clothes lying on the bed. Flinging the towel onto a nearby armchair, he advanced to the bed with a sinuous grace to examine the clothes the goblins had left him.

_Nice_ , Harry decided. They appealed to his tastes. Hell. When had he started being so picky about clothes? Harry immediately blamed it on his ancestors.

He quickly pulled on the fitted black slacks and slipped on the silver silk shirt. After brushing his hair, so that it lay in slightly disarrayed waves, he turned his attention to the beautiful cloak lying on the bed. It was a black silk cloak lined with burgundy velvet on the inside and a golden fibula rested on top of it along with a note.

_"The fibula belonged to your ancestor Javed. He greatly treasured it and gave it to us as a parting token sometime before he passed away. I thought you would like to have it."_

_\- Chief Goblin Fireclaw_

The fibula was a perfect work of art. A _masterpiece_. It was crafted in great detail of a sword being removed from its sheath. The hilt was carved in beautiful leaf-like patterns intertwined with silvery vines; and the scabbard was decorated with glittering white stones.

After admiring it for a few seconds, Harry wrapped the cloak around his shoulders and pinned both of the ends together with the fibula at the hollow of his throat; and pulled the deep wide hood of the cloak around his face.

Harry moved to stand in front of the mirror and noted that his entire face was shrouded in darkness except for his eyes which shone almost eerily out of his hood. He did not want to apply a glamour over his eyes until he was sure he was allowed to use magic outside of school. He knew he was now considered an adult, thanks to his Lord status; but he still wanted to confirm it with the goblins.

Satisfied, Harry exited the guest room he had been occupying since the previous evening and entered the Chief Goblins' office. Harry was pleased to see the goblin at his desk.

"Good morning, Gornunuk Fireclaw", Harry said leaning against the wall near the door. Fireclaw nearly jumped out of his seat in surprise, causing Harry to smirk. He certainly loved surprising people. He simply couldn't wait for the time he could rub it on Dumbledore's face.

"Ah. Good Morning, Lord Potter. You took me by surprise", Fireclaw chuckled, "I hope you are ready to leave. We've got a lot of work to do today."

Harry considered asking Fireclaw to address him as 'Harry' instead of 'Lord Potter', but quickly dismissed the thought. He rather liked the powerful feeling the word 'Lord' had to it.

"Yes. However, I'd like to know something. Since I'm magically considered an adult now, does that mean I'm allowed to use magic outside of Hogwarts?", Harry inquired.

"Yes, of course. The trace would have been nullified. The ministry would not be notified of your usage of magic."

"I'm really glad to hear that. It solves some rather unnecessary problems." Harry quickly cast a glamour charm on his eyes. They now resembled a normal pair of deep sapphire blue eyes.

Fireclaw nodded. "I had the map of the castle retrieved from the safe last night. It is located somewhere near the magical community of the Glengarriff village and the village itself is located in the Beara Peninsula of County Cork, Ireland. We shall use the floo. The place is called 'Stinky's Inn'."

Harry acquiesced with a nod of his head. After Fireclaw flooed out, Harry grabbed a pinch of the glittering Floo powder, stepped up to the fire and threw the powder into the flames. The flames made a whooshing sound and turned an emerald green; Harry quickly stepped into the warm green fire and stated "Stinky's Inn".

After passing through a numerous number of grates, Harry quickly came to a stop and gracefully stepped out of the fireplace. Feeling very pleased with himself for not embarrassingly landing on his arse, Harry grinned smugly and cast a cleaning charm on himself. His new abilities were definitely a blessing.

Unlike its namesake, the inn was a clean little place decorated with wooden furnishing. He could see a gentle looking gray-haired old woman puttering busily at the counter. The breakfast table was empty except for a middle aged couple bantering in mild tones. The smell of freshly baked bread and countryside permeated the entire room. Harry glanced around and found Fireclaw waiting for him at the door. Nodding, Harry moved to stand beside the elder goblin.

Together, they exited the inn and found their selves standing smack in the middle of a country lane. He could see a few houses dotting here and there on both sides of the road. Fireclaw glanced at the map he was clutching tightly in his hand. With a nod of his head to Harry, he began striding forward.

**[(-XX:::::::OOO:::::::XX-)]**

After walking around for nearly three hours under the bright and hot sun, Harry had to admit that if it had not been for his creature strength, he'd have been a puddle by now. He noted from the corner of his eyes that Fireclaw showed no discomfort other than a slight change in his breathing. So, goblins were indeed stronger than wizards, despite their shorter stature.

How much longer, Harry wanted to ask but refrained. He felt it was rather undignified. He mentally scoffed as a snide thought entered his head. When had he started worrying over _dignity_? Last time he checked, he'd been rolling around in the mud on the Quidditch pitch fighting with Malfoy like some sort of a street urchin.

Harry grimaced. Well, that was _before_ everything happened. He had turned over a new leaf this past week. So, only the present mattered and counted. Scowling, Harry automatically went over the mental list he had on the ones whom he wanted to hurt the most.

Really. He could even give excuses to both Voldemort and Bellatrix for their doings. They both were off their rocker a.k.a. blissful insanity.

But what bugged him the most was the fact that Dumbledore was completely sane and so manipulative. A puppeteer. He took away the free will of everyone around him. He uses people and discards them after their usefulness expired. And he hides everything behind his thrice-damned twinkling blue eyes and that benevolent smile. Harry felt that Dumbledore was the worst of all. The old man had had way too much of time in his hands to plot. He would make sure that wouldn't be the case in the future.

"Lord Potter, we've reached the wards", Fireclaw interrupted him from his musing.

Harry blinked. Cancelling the glamour on his eyes, Harry scanned the surrounding area and all he could see was the beach on one side and a vast stretch of trees on the other.

"What are we supposed to do now?"

"How would I know, my Lord?"

After receiving a dark glare from Harry, Fireclaw amended his previous statement, "What I meant was that the instructions we had been given ended here. It is up to you now to know how to enter the castle"

Hn. The castle was obviously warded. So, it must either want his magic or blood to verify it was him.

Oh well. Harry slowly reached out within himself and felt for those little energy waves that always seemed to co-exist with his blood running through his body.

He had never known before that a magical core was actually sort of sentient; he had always expected it to be just some abstract concept that people always referred to. He had only learned that he was wrong in his thinking during one of his recent forays into the Restricted Section. The concept was simple actually.

Muggles had a heart and it generated blood. It was purely physical. However, magical beings were different. They too had a heart but it was almost intertwined or maybe it rather coexisted with another entity which is to some extent, sentient. This was the core. And the researchers have no idea where it comes from. They say it's like magic. Ah, the irony. Anyway, magical beings rely on both their core and their heart for survival. If either one was snuffed out, the being would immediately die. Period.

Harry simply latched onto those little waves of magical energy pulsing just under his skin, trusting that it would lead him to his core.

However, the second he felt his magical core, he suddenly recoiled as if bitten. _What the ..._ His own core had felt alien to him. Almost volatile. Sure, he could feel traces of his former magic somewhere mixed within it. But, on the whole, his magic felt unfamiliar to him.

Fireclaw had warned him that his magic would rebel against him unless he controlled it. Apparently, it was due to the sudden influx of the Dark Ones' wild magic into his core. It was like a power play; all about who controlled whom. Either he had to submit to the magic or the magic must. He knew this, but he'd never expected it to be so literal.

He could almost taste the mutinous feeling in his magic. He did not like it one bit. It felt as if he would be devoured by it. Damn, Fireclaw was right. His core was definitely not cooperating.

He somehow felt _betrayed_ that his own magic was fighting against him. Stupid, he knew. But still ... it was _his_. _He_ was its master. He felt irrationally angry but also slightly irritated with himself for his churlishness. He would just have to make it obey then.

But not now. Now was not the time. After making sure that FIreclaw had warded himself with a few shields, he imagined the waves of magic rushing inside him to lash out against the wards, hearing a large _crack_ on impact.

Slowly opening his eyes, Harry blinked. The first thought that crossed his mind was 'there goes the fairyland castle'.

Then, Harry started grinning quickly followed by full-blown delighted laughter. It was nothing like he had ever imagined. This was just _amazing_. The castle was an awe-inspiring sight.

He wasn't even sure it could be labelled as a _castle_ really. It was more like a _fortress_ or a _citadel_.

And it was _his_. His birthright.

Harry felt almost giddy from the realization and the dark magic that saturated the very air that he was breathing. His own magic rejoicing at the feel of the ancient magic they were surrounded in. The magic was so _old._ After all, it had been almost five thousand years since the magic was cast and anyone had stepped inside its mighty wards. Harry felt almost blessed to be the Chosen One. Almost.

Looking sideways, Harry stifled a chuckle. If he had been awed, the Chief Goblin was about a hundred times worse. He was still on his knees from where he had fallen when Harry's magic had lashed out against the wards. The goblin's jaw had practically dropped down. Truthfully, not an enticing sight; but it still looked funny. Fireclaw's reaction wasn't surprising, considering the fact that the goblins almost _worshipped_ his ancestors.

Turning his attention back to the majestic structure looming before him, he would truthfully admit that not even in his most vivid imagination would he have imagined that such an imposing structure was even impossible to construct. It simply boggled his mind to imagine the type of magicks employed to construct it from the scratch. Oh and it was indeed constructed entirely with magic. Each and every stone was imbued with magic. It was almost like the stones itself were magic. He could feel it. Not even Hogwarts was built like this.

From what he could see, a large main gate stood behind him and a series of buildings were spread out over a large area in front of him; the entire area was compounded with nearly fifty foot gray-stoned walls branching out from the main gate on both sides topped with spears and torches.

Some buildings were connected to each other with bridges built of some light-coloured stone. Towers and turrets rose from every other corner; unlike the smooth rounded towers at Hogwarts, these were spirally jagged with a primeval look to it.

However, everything paled in comparison to the main edifice that rose from the centre among the buildings; terrifying in all its glory. It stood separately from the others and loomed, casting shadows on everything in its path.

Harry assumed that that was the main framework; the building where the Dark Ones dwelled. Harry chuckled. The Dark Ones sure kept appearances directly in line with their reputation. The main structure was completely built of polished black stones. It sure felt intimidating to him. Then, for the enemies? They would probably piss themselves. For a fleeting moment, Harry wondered what Ron would think before shaking off that undesirable thought. It did not matter.

The defences were marvellous. From what Fireclaw told him before, it appeared that the small protruding areas were actually hiding places from where one could shoot spells at an opponent in the battlefield, unseen. It was deceitful and dirty. But everything was fair in war, he'd learnt that the hard way.

"Shall we go in?", Harry gently prodded the still slightly stunned goblin. Without waiting for an answer, Harry strode in, looking for all the world as if he had been roaming these grounds forever. Fireclaw quickly scrambled after him.

After going through a series of large double doors, Harry finally stood in front of the polished metal doors that led into the 'black tower' as Harry dubbed it.

Since there were no visible handhold, Harry shrugged and simply placed his palm on the door and pushed. Instead of immediately opening, he felt a sudden intense burning on his back for a whole second before it stopped. Then, the doors slowly moved inwards with nary a creaking sound.

Ignoring the gasping sound from his companion, Harry quickly took in everything from the high vaulted ceiling to the dark carpets spread out across the room. It actually resembled a sitting room with several plush sofas and cushions littered elegantly around the room.

Harry tried not to dwell too much over a few pieces of furniture whose material suspiciously reminded him of animal and human skins; which truthfully, they most probably they were. Harry absently noted that there was not even an iota of dust visible anywhere.

But the most predominant thing in the living room were the four life-size portraits lining the wall of the Dark Ones. Harry moved in to take a closer look. It looked like they were coming out of a trance. Harry guessed that the portraits must have been under a sleeping charm.

As each of them regained themselves, Harry couldn't help but marvel at their beauty, oblivious to the fact that he himself was in par with their exquisiteness. Shaking his head, Harry gave them a deep bow and said respectfully, "I am honoured to meet you, My Dark Ones."

"Pleased to meet you as well, young one. Who are you? I have never seen your portrait before", the silver eyed one-Javed-pointed out.

Harry blinked.

The dark haired woman-Seshafi-rolled her eyes exasperated. "What an idiot. It's not him, but us who are in the portraits, Javed. Don't mind him, little one. He's always been a little weak in the head since 'The accident'"

Harry narrowed his eyes slightly at the 'young one' and the 'little one' titles, but kept his mouth firmly shut, not wanting to offend them. Harry sniffed. He knew he wasn't 'little' anything. He was still a little sensitive about height issues, what with him being _slightly_ vertically challenged before he came into his inheritance.

"Might I remind you that it was 'an accident' caused by you Seshafi", Javed growled out, scowling at her.

"Don't mind them both dear. What is your name?", Galena asked.

"Harry Potter."

"Are you the Chosen One?", Agron asked in a deep voice.

"Yes Sir."

"Do you know what happened to Cailean? How many years has it been? What changes have happened since then?", Javed enquired eagerly.

"Gornunuk Fireclaw knows more about this than me, Sir. I only came into my inheritance yesterday. So I believe he will be able to explain it better than me."

Harry watched as Fireclaw knelt before the Dark Ones and started his narration only after they asked him to rise. Harry mostly tuned out what he was saying, only registering the utter reverence and obedience in his tone as he spoke to his ancestors. He would gain that level of respect from the others, Harry vowed. Harry only stopped him once at the end to fill them in about the prophecy.

"So, you have one very powerful enemy", Seshafi mused.

"Two", Harry muttered under his breath, though they still heard him.

"This Albus Dumbledore, I presume", Agron noted.

Harry nodded.

"And the reason? I agree it was wrong of him to meddle in your financial affairs but I don't think you consider him your enemy just because of that. I believe you have some other reasons to hate him. Either way, you will eventually overthrow him to make yourself the Ruler of the Magical World."

Harry blanched slightly at the last statement but ignored it - for now. Scowling, Harry spat, "Because he betrayed my trust. He manipulated me and used me as a stupid pawn in his game which I will never forgive. He is also one of the reasons I lost my godfather, why my childhood was a rotten hell, why my life was a whole fucking game. I blame him. Is that not enough?" Before he reached the end, his eyes were glowing like verdant whirlpools swirling with hate; with slight golden flickers in them.

His aura which he usually had great control over, he let loose. Harry noted gleefully that his aura which had been slightly black and forest green from afore was completely gone to be replaced with pitch black interspersed with thin tendrils of green, red, silver, blue and amber woven through them. Harry knew that those threads were indicators of himself and his magic mixed with his ancestors.

Harry watched as the Dark Ones' eyes lit with pride and approval.

"You do realize that it will be a tough feat to fight both Voldemort and Dumbledore at the same time, don't you?"

Harry glared, then sighed. "Yes, which is why I've decided to cozy up to Dumbledore - for now."

"We have to plan... ", Javed started with a definitely cunning glint in his eyes.

"...carefully. Especially with this Dumbledore. You have to play it right. Not too aggressive yet you should stay out of his hands", Seshafi noted.

"I know", Harry murmured, his mind going through all the things he had to plan. Harry felt a happy feeling grow in his chest when he realized he had four other people who could advise him.

"When are you going to move in here, little one?"

"Day after tomorrow." Harry hesitated before continuing," I have to train but I have only three months."

Harry hoped they had some solution to that. The four of them grinned mischievously which made hope blossom within him. Maybe there was a way after all without involving blasted time turners.

"We have an idea."

Harry looked up expectantly.

"We'll tell you later."

Harry scowled, which made all four of them chuckle.

"Fireclaw, I believe you will be able to arrange for the tutors that he will need. They will teach Harry here at the fortress. However, they will have their memory wiped at the end of their stay. "

Fireclaw nodded his head indicating that he understood.

"Now, little one. We shall decide on the subjects that is necessary for your survival and victory", Seshafi said kindly.

"Warding is very important. I believe it will be easy for you however. It is one of our traits to see magic; so you only have to learn how to cast it as well as dismantle it. So, Runes is a must."

"Defence, transfiguration, charms. They will not take long for you to master, since I believe you should have already studied them in your school from what you told me earlier", Galena commented. Harry nodded.

"Sword fighting and knife play. Weapons always give you an edge over your enemy", Seshafi drawled, her eyes slightly unfocused as if reminiscing about some long ago battle.

Harry shivered, a jolt of anticipation going through him as he imagined himself in a battlefield surrounded by jets of spells and the cries of pain as life and death hinged on one single moment.

"Potions" , Javed piped in. Harry grimaced.

"Latin, French and German tutors. You would need it, little one, when you need to travel to other countries. You can never be at a disadvantage. Ever."

"Fireclaw, you say the wizarding world is ruled by a ministry now?", Agron sneered; the same expression mirrored on the others' faces as well.

"Yes, my Lord."

"Then, you must study Politics as well. Not only wizarding politics. You should also know about some of the internal and familial politics of some magical beings. Especially Vampires. They were finicky even back then. Fireclaw, you must find someone very clever and adept at manoeuvring these political waters. Use any means you possibly can to bring in only the best."

Fireclaw who was writing all of this down, nodded.

"I believe that will be all as far as the instructors are concerned. Other than that, I will teach you the Dark Arts, Javed - the Blood Magicks, Galena - the Elemental Magicks, Seshafi - the Mind Magicks", Agron concluded.

"If you want, I can also teach you Animagus Transformation", Javed winked.

"I would love that", Harry grinned.

"If you want to learn anything else, we will certainly teach you. After all, we do have centuries of knowledge with us", Seshafi commented dryly.

"I can do parsel magic", Harry told them. He had completely forgotten about that.

"Parsel... Morgana, you are a parselmouth. We knew a few nagas during our time. But it was something you simply couldn't learn. Though we certainly tried. It was one gift we enviously tried to obtain"

Harry grinned smugly.

"Dumbledore says Voldemort transferred his powers to me that Halloween night, which is actually a load of bull. Apparently, I am an indirect descendent of Salazar Slytherin which is why I can speak parseltongue."

"This is simply wonderful", Javed laughed delightedly. "I hope you have a pet snake"

"I don't but I do have three snake eggs that are yet to hatch. Um... all this is good and well. But how am I supposed to learn all this? It will take months if not years to learn all that."

"Don't worry, little one. Leave it to us."

Harry shook his head. "Okay. I am leaving, but before that I'd like to take a look at the library."

"Sure, dearie. But try not to get lost", Galena smirked.

**[(-XX:::::::OOO:::::::XX-)]**

After trekking through what seemed like countless corridors, Harry finally found the door through which he entered. Merlin, so many books. Galena had not been joking when she had advised him not to get lost.

_Finally,_ Fireclaw grumbled. The goblin had simply occupied the chair by the door deciding to take a little nap.

Smirking, Harry glided downstairs to the main room, trying hard not to think about that little paragraph he had read in Seshafi's journal...

**[slash scene]**

" _...pulling Galena in front of me, we both settled comfortably on one side of our enormous bed and proceeded to watch Agron and Javed. Though we never shared our mates, we all enjoyed voyeurism to some extent just as long as it was us four. Agron's dark eyes filled with lust and love as he watched Javed needily moan underneath him. He was quick to tie Javed's wrists to the headboard with a black silk rope just as Javed spread his legs wantonly urging Agron to take him._

_From our position, we had a nice view of Javed's cute little arse and Morgana, did that turn me on. Clutching Galena closer to me, I tilted her chin so that I could kiss fully on her lips and nibbled at her lower lip making her giggle. I could tell from the wetness coating my fingers that Galena was indeed enjoying herself watching our male duo go at each other. Smiling tenderly at her, we quickly focused our attention on them, just in time to watch Agron spear two fingers into Javed's twitching pink hole. After fingering him for a few minutes (during which, I have to admit Javed spewed forth some quite the impressive dirty things...I have to say, it even topped mine), Agron poised himself and began thrusting inside the smaller man. Hard. I actually winced. That should have definitely hurt. But, Javed just like everything else does the contrary, yelled, 'Harder'. I simply chuckled. Javed will always be Javed._

_I very much wanted to make love to Galena that I could hardly wait, but knew that should I start without those two , they would surely bite my head off. I can't blame them after all._

_I did promise them that I would wait until they finished so they could watch. Besides, we are going to test that new crop today. They would surely want to see its effects for themselves._

_Anyway, life is definitely good. Nearly Eight Hundred years yet our sex life is still great...perversions and all..."_

**[end slash scene]**

Hell. He had not wanted that tidbit of information. He would have been perfectly happy to go on thinking that his ancestors were saints and nuns. Now, it seemed like that the words had been seared into his brain. And to top it all off, he had started feeling slight stirrings of arousal. Merlin, he needed a lay. Or a wank.

He reached the sitting room and tried to slip out without the four portraits noticing. Just as his luck would have it, a deceptive voice called out, "Going without telling us, little one? I wonder why..."

Harry turned to face Javed and blushed fiercely, "Oh n-nothing...I-I just...It slipped my mind."

"Really? Are you sure? Or maybe you saw something you shouldn't have, eh?", Javed teased with a knowing look in his eyes.

Harry vigorously shook his head. He was not going to take the bait. Though it made him wonder if the portraits were able to read his mind. Was that even possible? He wouldn't be surprised if they had charmed their portraits to do that exactly. They were mad geniuses after all; that much he knew now, given that nearly half the library held books which they themselves had written. Or, maybe he was just that obvious to read.

Not wanting to ponder on that thought, Harry quickly bowed his head and said, "See you all. I have to go now. Bye." and made his escape, leaving a trail of amused laughter behind him.

* * *

 

**A/N:** I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please leave a review. It just takes a minute or two to show your appreciation. If you have any ideas regarding the story, I would also love to know that. If it is feasible, I'll try to include them in the story. And another thing, do you like the Dark Ones?


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J. K. Rowling. No money is being made.

A large thank you to my beta lovingsiri for beta reading this chapter for me.

**...**

**Independence of the Dark**

**..**

**Chapter 5**

**_..._ **

**_Malfoy Manor, Location Unknown_ **

Draco Malfoy was having a bad day. No. Scratch that. He was having a horrible day. Reason? Too many to count.

It had all started with his elf barging in on him when he was having his ritual morning wank fantasizing about a certain delectable boy with silky black hair and bright green eyes spread out naked in front of him. After that embarrassing incident which had ended up in him shrieking and the elf refusing to open its eyes, things had only gone downhill.

His father had arrived from a Death Eater meeting in the early morning looking like death warmed over and had promptly retired to his rooms to recover from his latest torture session with the Dark Lord. And he sure as hell needed that rest considering the fact that the Dark Lord had arranged for a private meeting with his father later that evening itself.

Then to make matters worse, his dear deranged auntie Bella had made an appearance to cackle and gloat to his father and mother about how her Lord had rewarded her. His ears still rung from her screeching.

She had then proceeded to rub herself against him, cooing in his ear 'Does ickle Dwaco want a wankie? Then come to Bellaaa...' (apparently the fact that he was her nephew seemed to have slipped her mind) and had placed a sloppy wet kiss on his cheek before leaving. Disgusting woman. He could never understand how he had ended up being related to her. And then there was one Harry Bloody Potter who was never far from his thoughts.

He could not recall when he had started feeling attracted to the boy; during his fourth year maybe. At first, he had only felt jealous when Potter had been selected as the champion, but it had reluctantly morphed into admiration when he once again glimpsed his indomitability and defiance, which Potter always wore around him like a cloak, to stand against the odds and thrive.

Everything Draco did to antagonize him, he would let it slide, just like water against a duck's back; and he would do it with a grace that was enviable. At first, it had pissed him off that he was not reacting to his taunts like he usually would before; and it had taken him quite some time, after his sulking, to finally comprehend that Potter was growing up and apparently did not want to indulge in their childish rivalry. Fat chance. Draco had no intention of stopping.

And then when the Portkey had arrived with two motionless figures, he had feared the worst upon immediately spotting the mop of dark hair. He could have cared less about Diggory. He would never admit it, but he had nearly cried in relief when he realized that Potter was alive.

Fifth year had started just like another year. If possible, his attraction or obsession or whatever it could be called with Potter had become even more consuming; so much so that he had even taken to hexing some of his more ardent suitors into oblivion, without Potter's knowledge of course, for ogling him too much.

Then, one day out of the blue, that bint Chang had started going out with Potter. Incensed, he had with all his cunningness, concocted a plan to remove Chang out of the equation in an effective manner.

He had known that she belonged to that secret group of Potter's. So, he had sent a powerful confundus charm her way, to make her babble out the truth about their little club to Umbridge. When truth got out that Chang was the culprit, his problem would be solved because Potter hated traitors.

But, then that Edgecombe bitch had accidently intercepted it thus making her the victim. He had been enraged. However, his worry was naught to be. He did not know what exactly had happened nor did he care, as the end result was what he wanted. Chang and Potter had broken up. He had been cackling like mad for an entire week after that; so much so that Severus had even tried to force feed him some healing potions, afraid that he had been slightly touched in the head.

Thankfully, he was interrupted from his musings when a bell began to chime indicating that his father had returned from his private meeting with the Dark Lord.

He bellowed, "Tiffy."

"Yes, Master Draco?", the small elf with big blue eyes asked with its head bowed.

"Where can I find Father?"

"Master is in his study, Master Draco", the elf squeaked.

Draco nodded at Tiffy in dismissal. He quickly wandered down the hall to the study. The Dark Lord had become even more ruthless in his punishments or rather in his pastime. Draco scowled. His father was facing the full brunt of the Dark Lord's anger for failing in retrieving the prophecy. He really hated the Dark Lord. And his mother, she hated the Dark Lord even more than he did.

Standing before the door to his father' study, Draco wondered whether he should knock or just barge in. A slight painful moan from the inside made the decision for him.

Lucius Malfoy was a proud man. He prided himself on his cunning and sharp mind; which was the reason why he couldn't fathom how he had agreed to follow that mad man he called Master. Actually, in all truth, he could. He had been an impressionable teen back then; and on the other hand, the Dark Lord had been in his prime, gathering followers, fighting for the Dark. Importantly, he had been sane or atleast as sane as a Dark Lord can be.

The Dark Lord truly had a great vision. The Light people were too much in control and the Dark wizards were frowned upon. Lucius had never understood the Light's prejudice. After all, they were all magical and he couldn't fathom why the practice of a powerful branch of magic was looked down upon. So, fighting for their rights to practice Dark Magic had been a worthy cause.

He had listened to his lord's words and had taken everything to heart. The Dark Lord had said that the only way to gain ground would be by pushing for pureblood supremacy as most of the old purebloods were practioners of Dark Magic. He had completely agreed with it.

At least that was how it was in the beginning. As time went on, he'd seen how his lord had sent him on raids sabotaging muggle towns and villages. He couldn't understand why that would be. Wouldn't be more wise to attack only muggle-born homes? Why the muggles? Not that he cared about those filth.

He just couldn't get why the Dark Lord was so focused on them. It would surely one day result in those muggles finding about them. That had never been the plan.

However, his answers had come in the form of his father's journal. Abraxas Malfoy had been a very trusted Death Eater and the classmate of Tom Marvolo Riddle. He had been among the few who knew the truth; Lord Voldemort was a half-blood. Abraxas, being his most trusted Death Eater, had been privy to a few secrets; such as the Dark Lord's hatred for anything muggle because of his own upbringing.

The Dark Lord may have all been about fighting for the right for the Dark Wizards, but in truth, it had been all about subjugation of muggles. He doubted the Dark Lord himself knew what he was doing.

He had hated that the half-blood had been using him for his own twisted agenda; but he kept quiet, because even with his twisted goals, the Dark was steadily gaining ground.

However, one day, everything changed. His distant full-blooded Veela cousin (through his Great-Grandmother's side who was a Veela herself) had been visiting their Manor for her holidays. Unfortunately, she had been alone in the Manor when the Dark Lord came to visit them in all of his deranged fury. He had tortured and killed her without a thought.

The only response he got in turn for his query as to why he killed his cousin was a Crucio and a "She's just an animal. And what use is an animal to us?"

That had been the day when he had truly began hating the Dark Lord with a passion that only rivalled his wife. Not only did he sully them with his half-muggle blood, he also had the nerve to kill a Dark Veela Pureblood and insult her after her death. As if the half-blood could even understand about Magical creatures.

How helpless he had felt then. He could not even act out as he had wanted to, with the fear that he would kill both Narcissa and him.

However, his fears had again resurfaced when Draco was born. He knew that Draco would also have to eventually follow him or else end up dead. He had consoled himself with the fact that he would find a way out for his child.

But then, very delightful news had reached him. His Lord had died; vanquished by a mere child. He had been without a doubt, ecstatic. But by Morgana, it had taken him every ounce of his acting skills to not break out into a large grin when Bella had told him the news.

Bella had then asked him to join in the attack on the Longbottom manner. He had refused and then silently tipped off the aurors of the attack; but only after asking Narcissa if she was okay with her sister getting arrested. Narcissa had been sad but had agreed that it would be for the best if their insane relatives weren't anywhere near Draco when he grew up. He knew his lord might come back one day. After all, he had told them that he had made himself immortal, so he didn't want the Lestranges, fanatics that they were, to find him sooner.

Until a year ago, life had been perfect in every sense of the word. But, once again, everything fell apart as _He_ came back. Even more insane than before. And he had no idea how to help Draco out of this. Narcissa had even suggested a mad scheme of faking Draco's death and hiding him away.

And now, the reason for all his fears stood facing him with a horrified expression on his face, hovering near the doorway.

Draco watched as a number of expressions crossed his fathers' face which had blood leaking on one side , his pale blond hair matted with blood. If his shaking form was anything to go by, he had been hit with several Crucios. In addition to that, he also obviously suffered from several cutting curses, a broken arm and who knew what else.

Knowing his father hated being seen in this condition, he carefully blanked his expression and began treating his father's wounds before handing him a few healing potions.

"I see the Dark Lord was hard on you tonight", Draco commented lightly.

"Indeed. Apparently, I had not been making myself useful enough", Lucius replied dryly.

Lucius continued," But, in truth, he is just still mad that I lost his diary and also failed to get the prophecy."

"I've never asked you, but why did you do that?", Draco asked curiously. He had wondered about that several times but he had never gotten the chance to ask him.

"Simple. I wanted Weasley to get into trouble", Lucius smirked.

"Hmm...that's kind of reasonable. However, wasn't it a wee bit childish of you? You even disobeyed the Dark Lord's orders. A bit Griffyndorish of you, don't you think?", Draco teased.

Lucius grinned."Hey. watch it. You are one to talk. I believe everything I do pales in comparison to your rivalry with your nemesis. That would top everything I say. When Potter is involved, it is like he brings out all your Griffyndor habits out into the open."

Draco scowled. Stupid green-eyed git...

Lucius continued on a more serious tone, "Really Draco, I swear he is getting more and more violent every day. I just want to find a way for you to escape this. I would do anything. I have a few people who are in accordance with me. Hopefully, we can do something to get you all out of this."

Draco nodded solemnly, "I know Father."

Draco quickly left the room when his mother came to check up on him. He retired to his rooms and leaned against the window looking out over the Manor grounds. His eyes caught a picture fluttering between the folds of a book.

Pulling it out, he found himself staring at a pair of huge green eyes, set in a delicate face framed by messy locks of black hair; lips upturned slightly in a smile. It was a newspaper clipping from the Quibbler last year.

He suddenly wished his summer would go faster, at least then he would also be able to watch Potter all the time at Hogwarts. He found everything he did... cute. No other word for it. Shaking his head, he gazed out the window, trying to stop acting like a moon-struck fool.

"Potter...Potter...what you do to me", Draco murmured with a slight smile gracing his lips.

**[(-XX:::::::OOO:::::::XX-)]**

Harry Potter was feeling happy. Elated actually. He had had a wonderful day. He had visited the Fortress, met his _lovely_ perverted ancestors, found that he was the Lord to four Ancient Houses and had more money than he knew what to do with. What more could a person want?

Harry licked at the large double chocolate sundae, as he sat outside of Florean Fortescue's ice-cream parlour enjoying the sunshine. After polishing off his ice-cream, Harry checked the time. It was just half past three. He just about had enough time to run a few errands.

Harry flooed to the Labyrinthine alley after discreetly making sure that no one was following him; not that anyone could recognize him, even though only his eyes and his scar had been glamoured.

Silvertongue had told him that 'Wilkins Wizarding Wear' was the best shop to buy clothes. It apparently had many branches spread out through various wizarding countries. It was _the_ best. And also bloody expensive. Apparently, all the rich purebloods shopped there.

That was where Harry was going. He needed a whole wardrobe. And it wasn't like he couldn't afford it either.

Harry opened the door and entered. Harry's first impression was 'It looks way too neat'. Truly, it wasn't anything remotely like Madam Malkins' crowded store.

Instead of a small room filled with chairs as it was in Madam Malkins', in its place was an elegant lounge littered with cream settees and low glass tables where a few ladies were gossiping over a fashion magazine. Low soft music played in the background.

Eight doors were spaced out evenly on one side, leading to separate rooms for privacy. Every customer was taken to one of these rooms where they were consulted with a clothing designer.

It reminded Harry eerily of a muggle hospitals; especially the consultation rooms. However, he had to admit that it was nonetheless effective and neat. Harry wondered whether Malfoy shopped here, as it resembled a place where he could imagine the Malfoys would fit right in. Elegant and Proper.

Harry approached the receptionist and had her enter his name into the log book. Harry relaxed on one of the sofas, and a platter of drinks appeared in front of him. _Nice_ , Harry decided.

After less than ten minutes, a young woman appeared and directed him to room marked No.7. Harry pushed the door open and entered. A dark blonde haired man with light blue eyes and appeared to be somewhere in his early twenties greeted him.

Jacques Flaubert was his name. A pureblood from France. He had graduated from Beauxbatons Academy with top scores. He could have gotten any job he wished or simply stayed at home. But his interest had been in designing. His parents weren't pleased but accepted it on one condition. He would still do all the duties that ought to be done as an heir and would become the Head of his Ancient House after his father passed away. He had quickly agreed.

After two years at the top institute of fashion in France, he had immediately been hired by the 'Wilkins Wizarding Wear' which was an honour in itself. Every year only a handful students around the world were selected by them to work there. He had progressively gained success in his career until he had been made the head and senior designer of this branch despite his young age. He had great imagination and it had paid him off.

He looked up just as the door opened and it took him every ounce of his professionalism to keep him from gasping out loud.

The young man standing at the doorway was simply stunning. Locks of silky black hair framed a face with skin as soft as rose petals; slender eyebrows gracing the sapphire blue eyes followed by high cheekbones and a blood red mouth quirked in a smile. A face that looked delicate yet with a look of hidden mystery glinting in the eyes.

And he was his client. He wondered how he was going to survive and not spontaneously combust while talking with this beautiful creature today.

Using every iota of his will power, he forced himself to stand up and smile. He quickly led him to the green couch with a low coffee table in front of it.

Harry took the indicated seat and turned to look at the man.

Harry held out a hand and said," James"

"Jacques Flaubert", he replied shaking his hand, noting that the teen had not revealed his family name.

_Flaubert,_ he had heard or read that name somewhere. But he couldn't, for the life of him, remember where.

"Mr. James, what would you like to look at?", Jacques asked.

"Please call me James. Just James. Actually, I wanted to do a full wardrobe shopping. However, I have no idea where to start", Harry confessed quietly.

Jacques gasped. Wow, this was a major contract. He quickly pulled out a large book.

"Let me see, you will need everyday robes, evening robes, party robes, formal robes, special-occasion robes, shoes to go with them, of course. Every-day cloaks and special cloaks. Shirts, Pants, Boxers, Ties, Cufflinks, Belts, Socks, Gloves, Brooches. That is all I think. The robes will come with a matching shirt and vest to be worn underneath", Jacques recited, jotting it down in a diary.

Harry blinked. Merlin, that was a long list. He never knew there were that many types of robes.

"Okay, I do not want any light colours; everything should be in dark shades and please make sure that there is at least one blue, one black, one green and one dark red among every type of clothes."

Jacques quickly noted it down. "What about the design, James?"

"Oh. That. Anything is fine with me. Just as long as it is simple and elegant and not too gaudy", Harry replied quickly. No need to let anyone know that he didn't even know the first thing about fashion or designing.

Jacques nodded his head eagerly. Ah, how he loved to experiment designs. It wasn't often that he could get to design to his liking. Most of the customers insisted on copying styles from one magazine or the other and were never keen on trying new ones. Pity.

And to design clothes for such a beautiful being to his heart's content, the gods must have been especially pleased with him today.

"And how many pieces should I design, James?"

Harry had serious plans for this coming year. And being the Lord of four ancient houses meant he had to act and dress accordingly.

Harry had deduced that the designer was fanatic about designing clothes, from the unholy glint in his eyes that had appeared there, when he had informed him that he could design his clothes. So, he felt that if he left the number to him, he would end up having more than enough.

"However many you wish. As I said, money is of no concern and I will have many run-ins with the media. So, I think with that information, you could guess how many."

Because, honestly he had no bloody clue on how many to order. 10? 15? perhaps. Whatever. It was better to leave it to the professional, he decided wisely.

Jacques nodded. Usually, the influential people never wore anything more than once if they had to be before the media. It was considered bad form. It meant that the family was in a poor state and the family wealth was dwindling. It would be a blight on their family name.

So, this must mean the young man was very influential and a pureblood, but had probably used an alias. Why would that be? he wondered distractedly.

He had a lot of work to do.

"How long will it take, Jacques?", Harry enquired.

"A fortnight", Jacques replied.

"Okay", Harry smiled, "I shall pay the advance now."

Harry quickly took out the card he had been given. It was a silver card with the Gringotts seal. Harry pricked his finger and placed a drop of his blood on a specific spot on the card before announcing the amount.

In gold colouring, the number of the amount he requested appeared on the card. He quickly slid the card into the card holder Jacques was holding. Again, a number appeared on the card holder indicating the amount that had been deposited.

The card holder was actually sort of a portal to transfer large sums of money from one vault to another. By now, his money would have been deposited in the company's vault.

This had been a recent development, in order to make transactions easier and faster.

Jacques suddenly said, "We still have to take your measurements."

Harry nodded and followed him to a small attached room with a mirror covering one side of the wall.

"You have to remove your clothes, James", Jacques muttered, blushing slightly.

Harry shrugged and quickly shed his clothes. He did not suffer from any sudden bout of embarrassment or shyness, since he very well knew he looked good; with lean muscles and a lithe form.

Harry quite enjoyed the expressions that passed Jacques' face. First awe, shyness, lust and then finally embarrassment at having been caught gawking at Harry.

Suddenly, the tape measure flew up into the air and began taking measurements. After the tape measure had flown back to its place, Harry on a sudden bout of mischief, Harry turned his back on Jacques and slowly deliberately bent down to pull on his pants, making sure that Jacques got a nice view of his boxer-clad arse. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry caught sight of Jacques flushing with his eyes firmly fixed on his backside and shifting in the same place; most probably to relive himself the hardness between his legs.

Stifling his chuckle, Harry buttoned his shirt and on a sudden impulse, Harry turned and tilted his head up to look at the older man through his lashes, before slightly brushing his lips against Jacques' warm ones. Then, Harry quickly pulled away and left the room with a short wave and a sultry smile directed at a stuttering Jacques.

After coming out of the boutique, Harry laughed. That had been _fun_. But, he wondered what had possessed him to do that. He wasn't one to suddenly kiss a stranger like that. Well, it wasn't a kiss exactly; more like a brush of the lips.

But, the point was that he had wanted to more than kiss Jacques back there. Why would that be?

Maybe his libido had increased along with his other senses. Wouldn't that be just _wonderful?_ From what he'd learnt, his ancestors were very sexual creatures and from the journal, he could gather that they fucked around like bunnies all the time.

Shaking his head, he focused on the next thing he needed to buy. Armour and muggle clothes. Muggle clothes, he would buy tomorrow. Maybe armour he could buy now.

Harry then flooed to Knockturn alley. A few stores down, Harry spotted the shop with a board that read 'Forge Armoury and Weapons'

Harry was met by a withered old man, who quickly introduced himself as Mr. Forge.

"Well Mr. James, how may I help you?"

"I want an armour made. But before that, I would like to know the materials you use for the armour?", Harry asked curiously.

"Mostly dragon hide. I sometimes use uncommon materials like enchanted eel skins, basilisk skins and of that type. They are uncommon but mainly because they are hard to come by", the old man muttered in disgruntlement.

Harry cleared his throat. "Hmm...then I'd like an armour made from Dragon hide and another one from Basilisk skin", Harry said decisively.

"There is no-", the old man started.

Harry interrupted, "Yes. I know that you have no basilisk skin with you, which is why I will provide the skin myself for my armour."

"Would you perhaps be trading it?", Mr. Forge asked hopefully.

"No. I might have use of it in the future", Harry replied with an apologetic smile.

"Oh. okay then. But if you ever want to sell or trade it, please come to this shop", Mr. Forge pleaded.

Harry smiled and nodded in acceptance.

After another half an hour of taking measurements and examining armours, Harry left the shop. It was dark outside. He had stayed out longer than he intended. Not that the dark affected him anymore. He could clearly see everything even at night. If he had not known any better, he would have thought that he was a vampire, just minus the blood-drinking.

Harry suddenly stiffened. He slowly turned and narrowed his eyes as he considered what exactly he had sensed. It had been unnoticeable at first; but the longer he resisted, the more stronger and insistent the pull of magic became.

He knew he could break it off if he wanted, but his curiosity was piqued and he wanted to investigate. He strode in the direction from where he could feel that alluring pull.

It led to a run-down shop that somewhat resembled Borgin and Burkes. He slowly pushed the door open and immediately spotted the object that had been calling out for him from such a long way. It was a dagger. It was hard not to miss it when it pulsed with a strong blood red magic that felt... oh so powerful.

As if under a trance, he reached out a hand and took the dagger, from its case, in a firm grip. He ignored the note that rested in front of the dagger; obviously giving an explanation about the dagger. As soon as he held it in a strong grip, an electric jolt passed through him as the magic of the blade settled with his. The handle fit his palm perfectly. It was wrought with obsidian, intricately designed with inlaid diamonds. In contrast to the black hilt, the blade was sharp with a blood red sheen to it.

It was only then that Harry focused on the note. It read, " **The Cursed Dagger**. Origin Unknown. Suspected of existing from before the Middle Ages . The dagger has been seen throughout various cultural histories under many different names. Countless people lost their lives when they foolishly touched the dagger with their bare hands. Do not touch it unless you are wearing gloves. Even then, touch with caution."

Harry glanced admiringly at the blade. It was a beauty to be sure. Beautiful yet deadly. A single swipe from this blade on his enemy meant their imminent death. Truly beautiful.

Harry wondered why it had not harmed him. But then he shrugged it off. Magic worked in mysterious ways sometimes. It was better not to question it.

For the first time since entering, Harry took a long look around the shop. Finding no one at the counter, Harry simply took out a pouch that held five hundred galleons in it and deposited the bag on the counter. It was simply a token of thanks to the owner for having such a precious item in his collection which had, in turn, led him to gain possession of it.

Without knowing, he had walked a long way into the downtown Knockturn alley. Filthy drunk men and whores loitered in groups on the street leading to Diagon alley. Ignoring the catcalls, Harry walked with a calm confidence that at least stopped them from coming near him.

After walking for about twenty minutes, Harry took a sharp right turn that would shortly lead him into Diagon Alley, only to be approached by two wizards.

Harry quickly shifted so that he ended up with his back to the wall.

A tall bear like man rasped in a hoarse voice," Hey Paul. Look. Whatcha think this sweet pretty thing is doing about in a place like this?"

"Dunno. Maybe he was looking for big boys to play with him", the shorter one, Paul, sniggered.

Harry glared. He had no time for this. He wanted to leave without creating a scene. Bringing Malfoy to the fore front of his mind and his 'when my father hears of this...' tone, Harry lifted his chin and said haughtily, "If you lay a hand on me, you will sorely regret it"

The bear chuckled. "Lookie. He has claws. Maybe we should show him his place, eh Paul?"

The other one, Paul, advanced on him and grabbed his hip.

Harry snapped. Discretion be damned. Harry quickly pulled out his new dagger and slashed it along the arm that held him in a bruising grip.

Harry stood frozen, watching in fascination as the man's hand withered away to a grey pallor and froth began forming at his mouth while the greyness seemed to spread throughout his whole body. The man was dead within twenty seconds.

The bear man, whom he had forgotten about completely, hit him in the back with a cutting curse. Cursing, Harry quickly dodged the next incoming spell and lunged towards the man and slashed the man wherever he could reach.

It took him a minute to realize that the man was already dead. The blade which had been coated with blood gleamed under the light and Harry watched in appreciation as the blood was slowly absorbed by the blade itself causing it to shine eerily.

Harry wondered if he would feel guilt or sadness for what he had done. After all, he had cold bloodedly killed two men when it had not even been necessary to kill them in the first place. A broken bone or two would have been enough to derail those two idiots. _No_. He just had to kill them, didn't he? Because he had secretly wanted a scapegoat to see the effects of the cursed dagger. Wasn't that just sick?

When he neither felt guilty nor regret , maybe except for a small prickle of his conscience, Harry was surprised at his own lack of reaction; wondering whether he should be worried about this new revelation.

Harry reassured himself that he would ask his ancestors if it was just a side-effect from his change or if he was seriously messed up in the head because no normal person could be so calm after killing two people.

Harry glanced around and noticed two people looking at him with wide horrified eyes. Harry shot them a hard look which had them scampering off to whichever place they had crawled out of.

Carefully taking care to avoid glancing at the two dead bodies, Harry walked briskly until he reached the Gringotts' main doors where Silvertongue was waiting for him with an anxious expression on his face, which quickly turned to relief when he spotted him.

"I was just thinking about coming to look for you, Lord Potter."

Harry smiled. "I apologize for the delay, Gornun Silvertongue."

"It's alright, Lord Potter", Silvertongue waved off his apology.

With a parting good night to the goblin, Harry made his way to his assigned quarters. He was very excited about tomorrow. His eggs were about to hatch anytime now and he was going to meet a special wandmaker who would only make him one if he found him worthy. The goblins remained very tight-lipped about this person. So, it went without saying that he was very much looking forward to see him. Tomorrow couldn't come sooner for him.

* * *

 

**A/N:** Hope you all enjoyed the chapter !! Oh and don't forget to leave a review! Bye !

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J. K. Rowling. No money is being made.

A large thank you to my beta lovingsiri for beta reading this chapter.

**...**

**Independence of the Dark**

**..**

**Chapter 6**

**...**

Harry grumbled under his breath. _Why can't people just let him sleep? And who the hell was it poking his head? Will they ever stop?,_ Harry wondered sluggishly. If possible, the pecking only increased in frequency, until it was vaguely bordering on painful.

Grousing, Harry slid the blanket off his face to find a glaring pair of annoyed amber eyes. _Oh hell_ , Harry muttered and tried to disappear under his blanket. He received a sharp rap followed by an indignant hoot.

"Ow. That hurts, Hedwig", Harry complained.

Hedwig puffed her wings, as if she was inordinately pleased that it had indeed hurt him. Harry scowled and then smiled in contentment after he made sure that she wasn't hurt in any way. He had missed her.

"Hey. I've missed you girl."

Hedwig considerably softened when she heard his confession. She hooted softly in response and nuzzled his ear.

"Did someone see you coming here? Did anyone follow you?"

Hedwig shot him a hard glare, apparently irked at his lack of confidence in her stealth.

Harry smiled fondly and made an appeasing gesture. "Calm down. Of course, I did not doubt your abilities girl. I just had to ask."

Satisfied, she returned to nibbling his ear, albeit it was a bit sharper than before.

Harry rose and quickly dressed after having a short soak in the bath. He was very excited and slightly nervous as well. He had not forgotten that he had a chance of getting a new wand today.

Sure, he loved his holly wand, but, ever since his Change yesterday, he had a niggling feeling that there was something different with the way his wand functioned; as if it quite didn't suit him anymore. True, he could still use it effectively. But it was as if the wand wasn't in sync with him like it was before. He could only theorize that it must be due to the change in his magical core.

He was slightly upset about the change in his phoenix wand but he consoled himself. He was not the same person he had been a year ago. Everything about him had changed, so, maybe, it was only fitting that his wand did too. Harry knew some people would probably think it impossible for a person to have a complete personality change in such a short time, but he disagreed. For him, the DoM incident had simply been his breaking point, so to speak.

Trying to distract himself from his sullen thoughts, Harry stood before the mirror and slowly appraised his appearance. He was clad in tight-fitting black slacks and a black silk shirt with a shimmery silver cloak wrapped around his shoulders. Harry carefully brushed his hair and then mussed it slightly so that it didn't look too spruced up.

Satisfied, Harry sat on his bed and offered Hedwig some owl treats. Silvertongue had told him that he would come to collect him at exactly nine in the morning. He still had some time to wait. He absently scratched Hedwig behind her ears which caused her to preen under his ministrations.

When Harry's scratching faltered, she nipped him hard on his fingers, causing a tiny cut to appear.

"You're an awfully demanding bird, did you know that?", Harry told her and then watched in amazement as the cut slowly but surely closed leaving behind a faint pink line.

_Definitely should have been a vampire_ , Harry mused. Despite what Fireclaw had told him, a niggling sense of doubt remained. Was he a really a human anymore or a creature? Everything the eye could see pointed that he was indeed a human, maybe except his eyes. But, his abilities contradicted everything a human should possess. Maybe he was a part-human, part-creature. Not that he would be upset or anything if that was the case. He just wanted to know what exactly he was.

He had quite a lot of things to ask the Dark Ones. Harry anxiously wondered if his ancestors really had some sort of plan to overcome the time constraint. Harry sure hoped so.

After about fifteen minutes, a knock was heard on the door. Patting Hedwig's head, Harry exited his room to find Silvertongue waiting for him.

"Good morning Lord Potter. I hope you had a good night's sleep after yester evening's...ah, entertainment", Silvertongue smirked.

Harry grinned, "Yes, of course. So, where are we going exactly?"

"Underground."

Harry arched an eyebrow at the monosyllabic answer, before asking, "Does that mean we are going to visit the Goblin Nation?"

"Not exactly. As you know, our country is built underground, right below Gringotts actually. In truth, it was constructed as such because if the Wizards chose to attack the Goblin Nation, it meant they would have to destroy Gringotts itself, in order to even reach the country. And destroying Gringotts would be the last thing Wizards would ever do. So, Gringotts actually acts as a defensive mechanism for us."

Harry breathed out, "Brilliant". And truly it was.

Silvertongue grinned smugly before continuing, "Anyhow, our country has various tiers; the upper tier is where meetings and business discussions between Goblins and other races are held, which is then followed by another tier which is a shopping district exclusively for the Goblins and the next tier has a few schools and below them are three tiers where the normal families, ancient families and the Elders and the council members live in that order. Finally, the lowest tier is the prison and the wandmaker's home. Now, you will be meeting her in one of the meeting rooms and if she approves of you, you will be taken to the lowest tier, which is where her home is located."

"And this wandmaker is a goblin?", Harry asked nonchalantly, trying to hide his interest. How could a goblin be a wandmaker? Goblins did not even have use of wands.

From the smirk that appeared on the Goblin's face, it appeared as if he had failed to completely mask his curiosity. "You just have to wait and see."

Harry huffed silently. Damn secretive Goblins.

He wanted to know more about the Goblin Nation but knew that he wouldn't be privy to it unless he met the condition that Fireclaw had given him. 'Master your magic and only then will the Goblin Nation follow you'

Harry clenched his fists as he started thinking about it. But he soon realized that the only thing he could do was just wait and begin to train.

They exited through a set of bronze doors which led them to a much more luxurious cart than the regular carts goblins usually used to visit the vaults. Harry nimbly sat himself on the cushioned seat and firmly gripped the front handle as a precautionary measure to prevent him from falling.

After a fifteen-minute smooth ride, so unlike the bumpy, puke-inducing cart ride to the vaults, Harry gracefully got down and arched a delicate eyebrow at Silvertongue.

Silvertongue grinned sheepishly. "You honestly didn't believe that we couldn't make the cart rides smoother, did you? We were able to but we didn't want to. Consider it as a bit of vindictiveness from our side towards the Wizards."

Harry smirked. He'd been expecting a jolty cart ride and had been quite surprised at the rather pleasant journey. Apparently, the Goblins enjoyed taking vengeance against the wizards in what little ways they could. Crafty beings the Goblins were.

" I shall be leaving you here now. The wandmaker is waiting for you on the other side of the door", Silvertongue stated, indicating a plain wooden door for him to enter.

Harry slightly inclined his head to the side and assessed the room. The room was spacious, he supposed, with cream and brown coloured walls and a large fireplace that had an exquisitely carved mantel wrought from mahogany, dominating the room. The curtains were closed shut so he had no idea what was on the other side.

But, the most curious thing was the girl who was rocking on her heels, silently brooding at a painting. The painting was a mesmerizing picture that depicted a raging inferno and a torrent of ice fighting viciously for dominance.

Harry cleared his throat to gain attention and when that didn't seem to work, Harry softly called out a 'hello'.

Harry wondered who the kid was. Perhaps the wandmaker's child?

When the kid turned, Harry had to contain a soft gasp. The child was exquisite in an odd way. She had silver hair floating down to her waist , framing a pale delicate face. Wide amber eyes glinted with intelligence and wisdom which proved that she wasn't a normal ten year girl she resembled to be. A small grin played on her lips when she caught his surprise that he failed to hide.

But what made it odd was the rows of serrated teeth that he could clearly see between her lips, and the claw-like nails on her hands and feet; both of which resembled a goblins'. A part-human or part-goblin then or at least something like that.

"Hello Harry Potter" With that, she indicated a seat for him to sit in while she took the one opposite him.

"Are you the Wandmaker?", Harry asked.

"Hmm...maybe. I go by many names", she said dismissively.

She settled on the sofa crossing her legs beneath her and then proceeded to stare at him.

Harry wanted to ask why she was staring at him but refrained, not wanting to be the one to initiate the conversation which she had so churlishly dismissed.

Not wanting to fidget, Harry let his mind wander on the things he still had to do before he left for the Fortress tomorrow. He still needed some muggle clothes and he also had to go to the pet store to buy some food and things for Hedwig and his yet-to-be-hatched snakes. Harry felt a grin form on his lips and a warm feeling settled in his chest when he thought about his snake eggs. He couldn't wait for them to be hatched!

He still had to do a scouring of some bookshops in the Knockturn since he might perchance find some rare books. Yesterday had just proved that there were certain useful things that could be found there. Harry gently stroked the dagger that he had strapped to his waist.

After another fifteen minutes of reticence, Harry really wanted to break the silence by saying something, but, at the same time, for some reason he also didn't want to do that.

Thankfully, the girl broke the silence by cracking a large grin.

"Well. That was interesting and you certainly are unyielding."

Harry didn't know whether it was a compliment or not; so he let a scowl form on his face and asked, "What was interesting?'

She just smirked. "I see I haven't properly introduced myself. I am Maeve the Wandmaker and as I said before, I go by different names since wand making isn't my only profession. It is an honour to meet you Dark One."

Harry pulled himself together and greeted her formally with a slight bow of his head, " An honour to meet you as well, Wandmaker."

Harry continued after a pause, not able to not know any longer, "Does that mean you will be making me a wand?" Harry grimaced internally at his tone. Morgana, he sounded like a eleven year old.

Maeve chuckled, "Impatient as always, I see. I suppose even if you have changed so much for the better, I must say, neither your impatience nor your pride has changed a bit."

Harry blushed slightly. Wait. How did she know this? Knowing he would never get a straight answer even if he asked, Harry kept silent.

"Now for your question, yes. I will make you a wand. Follow me."

Harry blinked. Just like that? No asking questions or anything to find out whether he was worthy or not. Maybe she already assessed him without his realizing? Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, he simply followed her to a far door where another cart was waiting.

"This will take us to the deepest part of the Goblin country. The bottom most tier to be precise. "

Harry nodded. Some half an hour later, they forcefully came to a stop.

"Why is it that you have your home even below the Elders? I thought the Elders are at the top of the Goblin hierarchy", Harry asked.

"Yes, they are. But I like to experiment with magic. So I prefer the bottom most tier where if any magical explosions and the like were to occur, it would not have any effect aboveground; thereby, keeping the Ministry of Magic oblivious to it."

Harry nodded in understanding. If the ministry got wind of any experiments going on underground, they would probably try to ship the goblins off to Azkaban on the next boat.

They moved into her home through a large wooden door, where they then went into a comfortable living room, which was warmed by a large fire with the hopes that it would ward off the chill that permeated the underground; although Maeve didn't seem to be affected by it. The walls were made of an ash-grey stone with several hangings and trinkets placed decoratively around the room. Large dark coloured cushions and poufs were spread out across the floor. Another set of doors were situated on the opposite side; they were probably be the main entrance doors to the house, since he himself had entered through the back doors of the house.

Maeve took his hand and led him to a workroom that was almost the size of Hogwarts' Great Hall.

"Now. Stay here", she warned him and scampered off to find something.

She then came back carrying six square boxes with her and set it on the counter before him.

When he opened his mouth to ask what it was, she shot him a warning glance. Chided, Harry looked on with curiosity.

She neatly lined the boxes and opened the lids. Each box contained a different type of wood.

She then started muttering to herself. "Ebony is powerful but that alone would not be enough. He needs something more. Something..." Her eyes lighted in excitement and she let out a small cackle.

Unnerved, Harry watched as she took a box of black wood and waved it under his nose.

Maeve crooned, "You see this. This is from a staff I made. Merlin's staff to be more precise. This wood is called the Lignum Vitae these days", she waved her hand in a slightly insane manner and continued, "Do you understand? This will be perfect for you from what I 'Saw'. This wood represents the end of strife and the beginning of a new positive cycle, because that is what you are aiming for, aren't you? I Saw that..."

Harry gaped at her. He had tuned out everything she said after the word 'Merlin's staff' left her lips. Instead of asking a hundred or so questions swirling in his mind, he ended up asking: "Just how old are you exactly?"

"Never ask a woman her age, young man", she replied sagely.

Harry rolled his eyes. "So. Seriously. This wood is from 'The Merlin's staff'? But I thought Merlin's staff was green, at least that is what Bathilda Bagshot says so in her books."

"True. The Lignum Vitae is actually a bright green wood at first, but as time passes it darkens until it reaches a dark glossy black, much like the Ebony. I could have used a colour preservation charm on the wood, but then that would have cancelled the special weightless charm Merlin himself cast on the wood to prevent it from sinking in the water, as its prone to do given its high density."

"Oh", was all Harry could say.

"Usually the first wood is one of the hardest woods to decide for a wand. After that, it's quite easy. Now. Let me see. Yes...this would do."

After pondering for a moment or so, she again proceeded to wave another box right under his nose that contained a pale yellow wood.

"This wood was taken from a young dying yew tree, which was burnt along with the Witches tied to it during the Burning Times. This will help you in achieving your maximum potential when learning the Dark Arts. It is all the more effective because the wood was from a dying tree."

Harry speculated. The Tree of Life and the Tree of Death. How on earth could they even be used together. Weren't they contradictory?

As if answering his question, Maeve replied, "Since these two woods signify the opposite, it needs to have an intermediary. So, I thought, since it is your own personality that defines these two, why not use a wood that signifies your magic in itself to act as the mediator between the two?"

Maeve pointed towards a red wood that had slight black patterns in it. "That is the Padauk wood. It usually signifies Chaotic Magic, which in other words, is yours. "

Shifting the three woods to the side, she took the remaining boxes with her back into the store room and returned with two vials.

She opened the first vial and it held a long shining black feather. "This is the tail feather of a black phoenix. This indicates the change in your beliefs and I'm also using this because of your past bond with a fire phoenix. "

She then indicated the second one, "This is something special. I have never used it so it will be an amazing experience I'm sure. This is the claw of an ancient Oriental Dragon. They are extinct now though. Hmmm... I think I will have to crush the claw. All in all, this will be one of the most powerful wands I've ever made and that's saying something, I assure you."

Harry grinned smugly before asking," I understand the reasons for you choosing these materials. But what I find confusing is, why am I not the one selecting them by seeking them out with my magic?"

"Who says you are not?", Maeve countered.

Sighing at his blank look, she elaborated, "I have a gift that lets me see the most important parts of your life based on the thoughts you think in my presence, and an intuition that helps me understand a person. I also have the ability to 'copy' a small part of a person's magic to analyze it. I can't use the magic but it helps me understand the magic the person wields. I also have a few other gifts that I have acquired throughout the years that help me in my hobbies. So, you see, I exactly know what your magic needs, since I _am_ using your magic to identify the materials."

Harry gaped at her in awe. She was so small yet she was so powerful.

"Please do close your mouth. It is terribly unattractive. Now, do you want any particular design carved on the handle?"

"Maybe a snake?"

Maeve nodded. "Perhaps some gems can be included too?"

Harry acquiesced. "Yes. But I'd like to use the gemstones that I have in my possession."

Harry pulled out his pouch and placed the three stones he'd grabbed from the Chamber.

Maeve's eyes widened in wonder. "Why didn't I think of this? I must be getting old...You see, I actually planned to use the stones purely for decoration; but I've changed my mind now. I believe I shall bind the stones with the wood using rune magic. I can assure you now that your wand will definitely be a masterpiece", she declared delightedly.

Harry grinned smugly. He knew there was a reason for his sudden decision to grab the coloured stones. Good to know he wasn't going mental.

" What are their names?"

"See this blue coloured one, it is 'The Blue Garnet'. It is a very, very rare stone. The bright green one is the 'Jadeite' and the black one is the 'Black star sapphire'."

Harry nodded, memorizing their names.

"Now go. I have work to do", Maeve ordered.

"When will the wand be ready?"

"By tonight."

"I will come with Silvertongue and collect it then". She nodded absentmindedly.

Seeing an opportunity, Harry casually asked, "What did you say your age was again?"

Maeve lifted her head and sent a cold glare at him. Harry quickly fled, muttering, "Well it was worth a try."

**[(-XX:::::::OOO:::::::XX-)]**

Harry looked around the shopping mall that he'd just arrived at. It was big, just like how they showed in the television shows. Ignoring the lustful and envious glances sent his way from several of the male and female population, he sauntered around until he spotted a shop on the third floor that looked welcoming enough.

Just as he'd guessed, the shop was nice. He quickly grabbed a few pair of jeans, shirts, t-shirts and trainers and then paid for it with the pound notes he'd exchanged from the bank.

Finally done with that, he finally realized how hungry he was and made his way to a fast- food restaurant that resembled the one he'd seen Petunia taking Dudley to when they were younger.

He ordered everything that had an attractive name. He figured if the name was fancy, then so was the dish.

The food was so greasy and delicious that he couldn't believe he'd missed out on this for all these years. Maybe he should bring Luna, Ginny and Neville here sometime in the future. He couldn't believe that the Wizarding World was missing this.

Maybe he should send Voldemort a plate of this delicacy. Perhaps then, the man would change his mind about killing muggles?

Then his mind conjured an even better scenario. Draco Malfoy sitting in front of him with a greasy chicken leg in one hand and a can of brown pop in his other. He could already imagine the scowl that would adorn his face with his nose pointed up in the air, drawling disdainfully, "What in Merlin's name is this, Potter? You honestly can't expect me to eat this...whatever this is, like some barbaric uncivilized muggle. And this? What exactly is this?! It looks like hippogriff's piss to me and you want me to drink this? You've finally lost your marbles, Scarhead..."

Grinning gleefully, Harry scraped his plate as much as he could without appearing unseemly. Leaving a hefty tip, he quickly left to return back the Diagon Alley.

Harry spotted Severus Snape exiting 'Slug & Jiggers Apothecary' and he quickly hid himself inside a crevice in the wall. Even though he was quite unrecognizable now, he was pretty sure he would be recognized by people who knew him well.

After Snape was gone, he quickly entered the shop called 'Magical Menagerie'. He bought a large open-top glass cage that was warm on the inside but cool on the outside. He also bought a few warming rocks of different sizes and had them placed inside the glass box. He had read that the baby snakes had to be kept in warm boxes until they were acclimated to normal temperature. On his way out, a gilded silver cage caught his eye and Harry bought it without a moment's hesitation.

He'd never had enough money to buy something expensive for his Hedwig. Now, that he did, he wanted to spoil her rotten. A warm rush of affection flooded him when he thought of all the hardships she'd endured all these years because of him and for him.

What was it with him? He didn't bat an eyelash when he killed two people in cold blood last night and now he was consumed by so much affection for his pet?

Deciding to think about it later, he strolled leisurely into Knockturn Alley with his purchases shrunk in his pocket and found Mr. Forge's shop.

"Ah. I was expecting you Mr. James."

"Good morning, Mr. Forge. Are my armours ready?"

"Yes. Yes of course. A goblin delivered me the basilisk skin to me a few hours after you left. I worked on them all through the night. I have to say the basilisk skin was of the best quality I have ever seen and worked with. The serpent must have been ancient."

"Yes. It was. More than a thousand years actually."

Forge's eyes widened in awe and a gasp left his mouth. "Really?"

"Yes. Really. Now my armour?", Harry asked amused.

"Yes. Yes. I have it right here" He quickly fetched two boxes and opened them; one held a dark green armour that was made from dragon hide and another one was a dark black made from the basilisk's skin.

"They come with gloves too", Forge informed him.

Harry nodded and had them packed in a bag. Harry left the shop in a brisk pace after paying the man.

He just had one more thing to do before he could return to the bank.

He apparently had house-elves bound to the Potter House who were taking take care of the Potter manner and the House's other properties in the current Lord's absence. But the Black, Slytherin and O'Dorchaidhe Houses did not have any elves bound to the them because all the bound elves had died, except for Kreacher of course. So, he now had a job to bond a whole horde of elves into his service, so that they could take care of his properties and he also needed to take a few elves along with him to the Fortress.

But, before that, he had one more job to complete. Harry moved to a dark corner and called: 'Kreacher'

"Master wishes to see me?", Kreacher asked in a monotone before muttering under his breath, "Why does the half-blood master look different? Kreacher wonders..."

Harry narrowed his eyes at the filthy creature. The reason for his Sirius' death. In all honesty, he could understand why Kreacher betrayed Sirius. Sirius had been cruel to the elf and the elf had retaliated in its own fashion. He was torn because he did not want the reason for Sirius' death to be alive but at the same time he did not want to murder the creature in cold blood.

Having read a few of the Black House customs during his fifth year and from Kreacher's own ramblings, Harry made his decision. "Kreacher, I, Lord Black, have decided that you have done your duty well as the bonded elf to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black; I, hereby, give you permission to end your service and have your head rest along with your forefathers."

Kreacher's eyes welled up and he began sobbing in large hysterical gasps before he managed to blubber out, "Thank you so much, Master. You are the kindest master. How Kreacher dreamed to have his head on the wall for all his life. My father will be so proud of me. Thank you Master. Good bye."

Harry nodded. Now since that hurdle had been crossed, he was quite pleased with himself. Sometime later, he came to a shop that Silvertongue had told him sold unbonded elves. Harry sighed.

Harry again sighed when he looked at the number of elves that were standing in a line looking at him hopefully; he had a soft spot when it came to house elves. He swiftly assigned ten elves to the Black House, fifteen to the Slytherin House and another fifteen to the O'Dorchaidhe House considering that the last two were one of the oldest and largest Houses in all of Europe. He also selected three elves- Tiffy, Nipp and Sunny as his personal elves who would be accompanying him to the Fortress.

He decided on Black and Silver uniforms for the elves bonded to the House of Black; Green and Silver for the elves bonded to the House of Slytherin, and a Royal Purple and Gold uniform for the House of O'Dorchaidhe. He had his three personal elves wear a simple black uniform with silver and gold trimmings.

After paying the man a hefty sum, a very tired Harry reached Gringotts in record time. He never knew there was so much to being a Lord. Merlin, he might even start getting grey hair. He shuddered at the thought.

Harry was thankfully interrupted from his steadily increasing pessimistic thoughts, by the red light and an alarm bell going haywire from the wooden crate which contained the serpent eggs. His eggs! They must be hatching.

Fatigue all but forgotten, Harry rushed to the shelf and carefully pulled out the crate before placing it on the floor. He promptly settled himself on the floor besides the crate, only then did he remove the lid and peeked inside.

Harry let out a delighted laugh. Yes! Thin cracks were appearing on the eggs. The black egg had larger cracks on it considering the fact that it was the largest egg of the three. The smallest one was the green one.

Sure enough, it was the black egg that cracked first before a small black head peeked out of it blinking at him blearily with bright yellow eyes.

Harry murmured softly in parseltongue and watched in fascination as the long thin black body emerged out of the cracked remains of the egg. Merlin, it was nearly 20 inches long. It would definitely grow to be a large serpent.

Harry held out his palm and the hatchling wound itself around his palm. Before Harry could react, the snake sunk its little fangs into his wrist. Surprisingly though, he only felt a brief flash of pain and a warm pleasant feeling spread throughout his entire body. Harry realized belatedly that the little one must have bonded with him marking him as its own.

:: _Hello hatchling_ ::

:: _Massster...It is very cold_ ::

:: _Yes. I know. Get into this box. It is very warm. Your nest mates will soon join you_ ::

It quickly slithered into the glass cage and quickly draped itself on a warm rock.

Harry turned just in time to see the sapphire blue snake with lidless black eyes emerge fully out of its shell. Its triangular head resembled a King cobra but he wasn't sure what species it was. He was quite sure that the snakes themselves had no idea of it either. Oh well. They would all just go along with it.

Harry held out the same wrist where the black hatchling had bit him. Just as he predicted, the blue snakeling also sunk its fangs at the exact same spot as the black hatchling had done before him. Afterwards, he placed it in the glass cage along with the black serpent.

The little green one took the longest time to rip its head out but it still was unable to completely get out of its shell.

Harry crooned softly, :: _C'mon little one. We are waiting for you_ ::

A beautiful green head poked out with startling silver eyes, a little forked tongue moving in and out of its mouth. The snake was only 6 inches or so in length. Harry felt like a proud father when the snake finally slithered onto his hand.

Harry named the black hatchling Leviathan. Harry was pretty sure his Leviathan would live up to his name when he grew up, given the fact that his namesake was a Hebrew primeval sea serpent, a symbol of chaos.

Sirae was the name he gave the little sapphire snake after the three-headed blue serpent that was known to steal a person's years from a dream.

:: _And you little one?_ ::, Harry asked the little emerald serpent.

:: _I am a female master_ ::

:: _A Female. Would you like to be named Annabelinda?_ ::

:: _No master. It is very long_.::

Harry nodded. True, it was indeed very long.

:: _Then what about Koevasi?_ ::

:: _No master. I can't pronounce it_ ::

Harry again nodded. She kind of had a point. It might be hard to pronounce sometimes.

:: _Okay. I think Tiamat is nice, don't you think?_ ::

She shook her head :: _The name does not have a pleasant ring to it master_ ::

Harry stopped and gave her a hard look. She fidgeted.

Harry sighed and fired out another half a dozen names; all to which she shook her head in the negative. Harry was just about ready to pull his hair out. Who knew naming a tiny serpent could be this much difficult.

:: _Really. Why can't you be like your brothers?_ ::

The snake just sniffed haughtily.

Harry had run out on all the female names he knew. Just then an elusive name he'd been trying to remember for some time came to his mind.

Harry gave it a final try and hesitantly asked, :: _Iara?_ ::

Her silver eyes practically glowed in delight when she heard the name. :: _Yesss..._ ::

Thank the heavens.

**[(-XX:::::::OOO:::::::XX-)]**

At exactly 7 in the evening, Maeve had sent word through Silvertongue that his wand was ready and that she would be waiting for him in the meeting room in exactly one hour. In his over-enthusiasm, he'd ended up coming thirty minutes earlier and was now pacing the room not knowing what to do.

"Ah ha. I was right. I knew you would end up coming a lot earlier than I told you to.", Maeve grinned, sticking her head inside the door.

Harry glared."Is my wand ready?"

"Yes. Yes. Just one more thing to do."

She held out a small vial in front of him and asked him to fill the vial with his blood right up to the brim. Harry frowned in confusion but did what she asked. She hastily turned her back to him and hunched over a box that he knew had his wand, chanting under her breath. He patiently waited for her to finish whatever that she was doing with his wand.

Finally, she turned to face with a delighted grin playing on her lips. She held a velvet cloth in her arms which she slowly uncovered to reveal his wand with a small childish 'ta-da'.

Harry was at a loss for words. The wand was simply beautiful. The handle was a pale yellow with a raised metallic blood red serpent coiled around it and a small pear-cut jadeite was placed near its tail. If he looked closely at the serpent, he could see that the red colour was actually his blood moving inside it.

Just above the handle where the serpent's head rested, the red wood was twisted around a trillion-cut black star sapphire into an Eternal celtic knot. And from just above the knot rose the front end of the wand polished to a shining black. The flat base of the wand held a round-cut blue garnet in the middle.

"The wand is a total 14 inches in length with the front-end alone being a lengthy 8 inches. Its disposition is rigid and unyielding, just like you I suppose. You will have a hard time controlling this wand. Another thing, Lord Potter. You are not supposed to touch this wand until you first tame your wild magic."

"Why is that?"

"As you know, magical cores are actually, in a way, sentient. Your untamed core will recognize that this wand can be used as a channel through which it can be free. So, if you try to touch it now, it will put all of its magic into it, trying to escape. That will no doubt kill you. So, until your magic answers your command, it will remain a danger to you."

Harry acknowledged that it was a reasonable explanation.

"Now before you leave, I have to warn you about something I Saw while I was creating your wand. It appears that your wand, in a way, represents the different outcomes of our future. Your decisions and fortitude will influence them. In other words, you will either be the reason for the start of a new cycle or you will be the reason for the death of everything. So make your decisions wisely and never change your path. Unless you do that, we all will fall."

Harry stared at her with an unreadable expression on his face. Two different outcomes...Tree of Life and Tree of Death. Oh yes, he knew what she was trying to say. His decisions...his fortitude...yes, he understood perfectly.

* * *

 

**A/N:** Hey! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I have posted a new story **'The Dark Lord's Exile'** and I have asked an important **question** , pertaining to _that_ story, there in the _end note_. If you are interested, check it out and if possible, please leave your **answer** to that question in a PM or a review. It would be much appreciated ! And please review this chapter as well. I love 'em !! It just takes a minute or two !

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J. K. Rowling. No money is being made.

A big thank you to my Beta lovingsiri for beta-reading this chapter. Kudos to you!

This is also just a filler chapter. So, it's quite short.

**...**

**Independence of the Dark**

**..**

**Chapter 7**

**...**

Harry paced in his room while his serpents, whom lay coiled around each other, watched him with amusement. He was feeling anxious as he was about to meet his tutors; especially when he knew that at least two of his tutors would be acting under compulsion charms.

Harry's mind flashed to the brief argument he had with Fireclaw...

" _Is it really necessary to have my tutors under compulsion charms?"_

_"Yes Lord Potter. If it makes you feel better, let me assure you that they wanted to take the job but hesitated due to a few misconceptions. All they needed as a slight push. Besides we really needed them, seeing as they are all one of the best in their fields", Fireclaw smirked._

_Harry wasn't sure he wanted to hear what those misconceptions were. It wasn't that he was averse to using compulsions on people, he worried that it might affect him in the long run. After all, they were going to be cooped up somewhere for the summer. Oh well. Good old obliviation would always come in handy if anything went wrong..._

Thankfully, before he could pull his hair out with his impatience, a small knock on the door signalled the arrival of someone or rather, someones. Fireclaw entered with a small troop following him. Apparently they were going to be his instructors. A pair of goblins, a half-goblin, a trio of wizards, a witch and if he could hazard a guess, a rather handsome looking vampire.

But the one who surprised him the most was the half-goblin. He had to blink twice to make sure that the light had not played tricks on his eyes; because the half-goblin was none other than Filius Flitwick, his Charms professor at Hogwarts.

Harry tried to get his expression under control so that he wouldn't end up gaping unattractively like a fish. However, he was slightly mollified to see that his professor wasn't so apt at hiding his surprise. Harry stifled a grin. Apparently, for all the change in his appearance, his teacher knew him well enough to spot him. Maybe, it helped that he'd charmed his eyes to look an emerald green; rather than the sapphire blue he'd preferred yesterday.

Fireclaw indicated the pair of goblins as Njord and Odin who were apparently his Runes and Language instructor. Flitwick was his charms instructor and would also partner Simeon Elmer who was supposed to be his Defence instructor to teach him duelling.

The dark haired man clad in well fitting robes was obviously his Politics tutor who introduced himself as Gideon Burkes. The other wizard Alexei Vakhrov was the Potions master while the middle-aged grey haired witch Irina Krum was his Transfiguration instructor.

Meantime, Flitwick was not so subtly giving him a look that said 'We'll talk about this later'. Harry's mind was whirring with possibilities on how to utilize the 'Flitwick situation' to his own advantage. Once he returned to Hogwarts, a person loyal to him on the staff and acting as a spy would go a long way to help his cause.

Finally, the vampire Harry had been eyeing with well-hidden interest moved forward in long strides and bowed slightly at the waist before offering him a rakish grin. "Andreas, at your service"

Fireclaw chuckled, "He'll be your weapons and combat instructor."

"I never realized you employed vampires, Gornunuk Firelaw", Harry commented nonchalantly masking his curiosity about the vampire.

"We don't. Andreas here was actually a prisoner at the Goblin National Prison for the last two months up until now. He agreed to repay his... ah, debts to us by tutoring you."

Harry arched a brow at the dark haired vampire in consideration to which he got a sniff and a haughty glance in response before he offered Harry a cheeky grin.

Harry had to contain a snort at the vampire's antics. Well, his training might not be so bad after all...

**[(-XX:::::::OOO:::::::XX-)]**

Harry wondered if he would ever get used to the fact that he actually owned a fortress. Probably not. The place exuded a warm feeling as if it was welcoming him back home, yet it still possessed an intimidating feel to it. How that was possible Harry did not know.

Harry gleefully watched as a myriad of expressions crossed his tutors' faces before it finally settled on undisguised awe. They had flooed from the bank directly after having a small breakfast where they'd gotten to know each other a bit.

The two goblins Njord and Odin were brothers and were also the great- grandsons of Fireclaw. The vampire Andreas remained shady as to his origins and Fireclaw himself did not have anything useful to offer about the vampire.

Simeon Elmer, an English wizard brought up in Poland, had been the national duelling champion twice and had won second place in the world championship.

The Potions master Vakhrov and Gideon Burkes were the ones who had accepted under compulsion charms as Fireclaw had informed him. He had to keep an eye on them.

Irina Krum apparently had a life debt to a goblin who had one saved her life and had agreed to fulfil it by teaching him.

All of them, except for the goblins, were sworn to secrecy and if they proved to be untrustworthy, Fireclaw had assured him that he had measures in place that would obliviate them at the end of their stay.

Harry briskly crossed the threshold to the Black tower, as he had come to call the single solitary black-stoned tower that stood imposing in the middle of the fortress and waited for his instructors to catch up with him since they were all but gaping at the various turrets and buildings around the fortress.

Harry watched in fascination as each and everyone of his tutors, other than Fireclaw, shivered with an unnerved expression on their face as they were subjected to some sort of magical scan, if the blue light that passed through them was anything to go by, when they set foot inside the tower. Moving to the far wall which held the live portraits of his ancestors, they all bowed deeply at the waist.

"Welcome back, heir", Agron's voice rang out.

Harry beamed at the portraits as he saw that they were genuinely happy to see him again.

After a round of brief introduction of his new tutors to his ancestors, Javed broached the topic that had been on everyone's mind and nagging at their curiosity.

"I suppose you want to know how you are going to manipulate time to complete your training?", Javed asked with a smirk.

Harry scowled at the smug tone before nodding his head.

"Well. Let me start at the beginning. You know that we liked to experiment and more often than not, our experiments tended to end up badly."

Harry nodded his head impatiently. He had gathered that much from the journal he had read in the library.

Javed grinned before continuing, "When Cailean was born, we were faced with a problem. Cailean was special but for all that, he was a mortal. We did not want to force immortality upon him but rather we searched for a way for him to have a long life span. That lead to one of our most crazy experiments. Of course, not that it went according to plan. Instead of what we'd originally wanted to achieve, we ended up creating something most unexpected but efficient nonetheless. A warp of reality."

Harry heard a gasp from a few of his tutors. He did not exactly understand what exactly that meant but he knew that it must be something extraordinary.

"If I may, does that mean we'll become completely non-existent in the present reality?", Flitwick interrupted.

"Precisely. There are rune stones that are imbibed with our magic set around this tower at five points which forms a pentagon. We created a spell that will literally move anything and everything inside this tower to another reality. As it is, you will be in a state of...ah, limbo."

Harry wore an amazed expression which was reflected to an even higher degree on his companions' faces.

"So if we were to leave the present reality and live in a state of non-existence for some infinite time, how much time would have passed here before the merge occurs?", Harry asked.

"A day. However, it comes with its own set of conditions. Once you return, you can do it again only after a gap of 28 days. So, you better make sure you have brought everything you need with you. Another thing is that, you can never check the time inside the tower and neither can you look out of the tower through the windows. You won't like the consequences. Better use sticking charms on the curtains."

"Not that there are that many windows here in the first place", groused Galena shooting a dirty look at Agron.

Harry absently mused that his already light complexion would become even paler without any sunlight. Huh. Looked like his mission to regain his tan back was doomed from the start. Figures.

"So, when am I supposed to cast the spell?", Harry inquired.

"Sometime at noon. But before that, Harry, I suppose that I must let you know that you wouldn't start attending your classes immediately", Agron informed him.

Harry burst out, "Why not?" He'd actually been very excited to start learning in earnest for the first time in his life.

"Because you haven't tamed your core yet. Before you start learning powerful magic, we believe it would be much more beneficent for you if you were in sync with your core. Which is why, once the warp has been created, you will right away start training with us about core magic until you have managed to gain some semblance of control. As of now, your core is just like a volcano waiting for one single catalyst to set it off. In the meantime, you may have Language, Theory of Runes and Weapons class with your respective tutors."

"And no, whinging will not get you anywhere", Seshafi quipped shooting him a hard look.

Harry heard a chuckle from behind and he wasted no time in levelling a dark glare at the mirthful vampire before sighing in resignation at the Dark Ones.

"Now if that is all, the living accommodations for your tutors will be on the first floor. Your set of rooms are on the third floor. I hope that you have brought enough supply of food and blood (for the vampire) for your stay here."

"Yes, I've brought three personal elves with me who have taken care of that", Harry replied. _Good thing I had the forethought to ask the elves to bring large amounts of food supplements._

"Now that that's taken care of, I believe that we shall cast the spell exactly at noon. Until then, all of you make ourselves at home. Harry, you may remain. We have to coach you through the various stages of the spell."

Harry agreed before pulling a chair and seating himself in front of the portraits.

Harry asked snootily, "I thought you wanted me not to cast magic."

Seshafi raised an unimpressed brow. "You very well know what we meant. Now stop being a brat and listen."

Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes and planted a studious expression on his face before saying, "Yes Ma'am."

For the next hour, the four of them coached Harry in drawing a rune circle and the intricate wand moments which was very crucial for the spell to succeed. Once the ritual was started, any mishaps in the middle would yield disastrous results. They had also warned him that there was a good chance that he would pass out at the end as it drew a large amount of magic from the person casting it, which was why his ancestors hadn't asked his instructors to cast it. They were sure that their cores wouldn't be large enough and they would surely die from magical exhaustion.

"Have you ever used this time warp spell?", Harry asked curiously.

"Yes. Once. When Cailean was kidnapped and we needed time to create a ritual. A ritual which ensured that an heir was born into the future with our own unique magic. That was also when we created these portraits and imbibed it with our memories along with a small tiny bit of our soul and put them to sleep so that they woke up when the doors to the Black tower was opened", Galena smiled sadly somewhat lost in her memories.

Harry was suddenly struck with the thought that if they had been asleep for the past five thousand years then the memory of the loss of their own child must be very fresh in their minds. Harry felt a brief pang of grief as he remembered the loss of his own parents.

"You must miss him then", Harry noted quietly.

"We do. But there is nothing we can do about that but we can do something about ensuring our second son's survival", Javed said.

Harry felt touched by their affection for him but just like any other teenager tried to cover his mushiness by snarking.

"I hope you don't expect me to hug and give out smooches to your portraits.", Harry quipped. Harry got four eye-rolls with a muttered 'Child' as an answer.

**[(-XX:::::::OOO:::::::XX-)]**

Harry tried to cover his nervousness by walking in circles around the room muttering the spell under his breath.

"It's time", Andreas, the vampire, called out.

Harry sauntered over to the pentagon runic circle he'd drawn with chalk sometime earlier. After directing his tutors and his house elves (other than Fireclaw who had left half an hour before) to stand at each of the stars drawn inside the runic circle, Harry moved to stand at the centre of the circle.

Taking a deep breath, Harry traced the five runes at each corner of the pentagon that symbolized the five stones placed outside the tower.

Harry then went through the elaborate wand movements he had been coached through; enunciating the phrases clearly before each subsequent wand moment.

**_"Tempus. Silete a._ **

**_Aer. Et præpositum esse scirent._ **

**_Rerum. Egredere._ **

**_Vacuum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit."_ **

Bright violet light flared around the runic circle casting dark shadows around the room; robes whipped around them before everything was doused in darkness. _The ritual must have worked then,_ was Harry's last thought before he lost consciousness.

 **A/N:** Hey. Hope everyone liked the chapter. How do you all like the story so far? Ideas and suggestions are welcome. No flames please. So, please review and I'll make sure to answer all of them. It only takes a minute to review. **_:)_**

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J. K. Rowling. No money is being made.

A large thank you to my amazing beta lovingsiri for beta reading this chapter for me.

**...**

**Independence of the Dark**

**..**

**Chapter 8**

**...**

Harry winced as a knee dug into his lower back causing a sharp pain to shoot up his spine, while a strong hand firmly pressed one side of his face to the ground. _Good thing the ground isn't gravelly_ , Harry mused before trying to push himself up.

Before he could even brace himself however, two strong arms snaked around his middle and quickly captured both his hands , pulling them behind his back before transferring them to one hand. _Damn the vampire_ , Harry growled silently.

Harry held still as Andreas leaned close to his ear, soft hair tickling the nape of his neck before he whispered in a deceptively silky voice, "Dead."

Harry let out an audible growl this time. At the same time, he couldn't help but moan silently at the strong hard body pressing against him, causing a vicious bout of lust to rise in him. Merlin. If the vampire wasn't holding back some information about himself, he would have jumped the vampire a long time ago.

Harry restrained himself and grunted in acceptance of his defeat. Only after that did the vampire let go of him and proceeded to step back with a nonchalant expression on his face.

Harry stood up with a scowl marring his face, dusting off his clothes as he reminisced on his time spent with the vampire. He had no idea how much time had passed inside the tower since there was nothing to indicate the passing of time. Maybe a month? Perhaps two? three? He didn't know. But, what he did know was that the sadistic vampire who called himself his combat instructor, took a perverse pleasure in beating him within an inch of his life during his training sessions with him.

Every single time. Every fucking single time, the man had defeated him soundly. Except this once. This time he had won and had the vampire under his mercy. But then he had gone completely around the bend and had started gloating like some touched-in-the-head-Death-Eater before he had made the stupidest mistake of turning his back on the vampire. All the man needed was a second and he, Harry, had ended up on the ground.

In his defence, Harry felt that, other than his poor-timing, his gloating was perfectly well-earned. After having been beaten up nearly countless times, right from the first class, he couldn't help but gloat a bit, okay, a lot bit.

The vampire's way of teaching was eerily reminiscent of Snape's occlumency lessons. When he had first entered the room for his first training session, he'd been ambushed the second he had crossed the threshold of the room. Apparently, it had been a test for his alertness and quick reflexes which he had most pathetically failed, as Andreas had informed him in a smug, smirking tone. Bastard! And, since then, all his training sessions had been similar to that. However, unlike Snape's lessons, these lessons at least showed result.

At first, it had been brutal since he had been at the receiving end with no means of defending himself. Then it became both brutal and an unseemly sight to watch as he had to resort to using some of the barbaric manoeuvres he had seen in the war movies that Dudley used to watch on the television. He had to do that in order to at least deflect some of the hits and gain some knowledge on how Andreas attacked and moved. Then slowly, through all the hitting, punching, kicking and ducking, he had started to learn and copy some of the manoeuvres the vampire used, until after many, many sessions later the results showed.

Harry was very fast but the vampire was even more so, given his vampiric nature. So, he had to learn how to use his smaller stature to his advantage. Since then, the matches had evened out between them and he gave as good as he got although the vampire eventually won, much to Harry's chagrin.

He'd honed his skills to such a level that he hardly ever let his guard down even while outside, since the vampire had begun a new exercise called 'Jumping Harry Potter'. Merlin. Harry would swear that all the man thought about was sex, not that he would ever dare to lay a hand on him without his consent; especially not after the warning Javed had given him about the various hexes put up inside the tower that would castrate him at a single command from the portrait. It had been amusing to watch the vampire's expression when he heard that.

Harry turned his attention to the vampire lounging against the wall who was watching him with a well-hidden lustful gaze, along with a not-so-hidden affection and amusement alight on his face.

"Okay. So what have you learned today?" Andreas asked.

"Never to trust you,” Harry replied morosely.

Andreas just shot an unimpressed look at him.

"What? I won, didn't I?" Harry quipped, hoping that the vampire wouldn't call him out.

"No, you didn't. You turned your back to your enemy, which in this case, me. So, I took advantage of the opening you presented. Remember, once your enemy is down, you KILL him. NEVER TURN YOUR BACK ON YOUR ENEMY. OR GLOAT, FOR CIRCE'S SAKE!"

Harry nodded, thoroughly chastised.

**[(-XX:::::::OOO:::::::XX-)]**

After a hot shower, both of them settled on the bench to do some relaxing as they usually did after their intense training sessions.

Just then, Tiffy, one of his personal house elves, popped in holding a vial of a pale blue pain-reliever potion. Harry knocked it back in one gulp. He had become so used to it that he hardly grimaced at the taste any more. Then he took the small bar of chocolate before sending the elf on its way.

"So?" Harry started tentatively. Andreas was a mystery and despite all his attempts to demand, manipulate, cajole, or even wheedle his secrets out of him, the man remained close-lipped about his past. But he had promised Harry in the last training session that if he were to beat him, he would tell Harry something about his life.

Andreas looked questioningly at him, as if he had no idea what he was talking about although a small smirk seemed to play around his lips. The nerve!

Harry narrowed his eyes before saying, "I won didn't I? Or rather I won before you won on a technicality. And you said you would tell me something about your past if I won, didn't you? Or are you going back on your word?" Harry queried in a dangerous tone hoping that it would cow the vampire at least a little bit into answering him.

There was nothing more intriguing than a mystery to him. It ate at him until he had the full details layered out for his perusal. It had been that way from the time when he was little. Even before he went to Hogwarts and all the philosopher's stone, chamber and all those mysteries had ensnared him. Why, he could remember several incidents from his childhood quite clearly where he'd acted as 'Sherlock Jr'.

Andreas sighed. "I suppose I can tell you something of my life."

Harry grinned in delight.

"What do you want to know? However, I reserve the right whether I choose to answer your question or not," Andreas warned him when he saw the gleeful look on Harry's face.

Harry pouted slightly at that before pondering for a moment. "I know you are no thief. It just doesn't make sense. There must be something else. I would like to know what that would be."

Andreas smirked. "Glad to know Your Majesty thinks so highly of me."

Harry sneered in response before waving absently for him to get on with his answer. Harry knew him well enough now to know when the vampire was trying to stall.

Andreas ran a hand through his hair causing it to stick up at the front which Harry thought was kinda sexy not that he would ever mention it. "I suppose there's no need to hide this from you. You see, I am the illegitimate son of the Ruler of the Seventh Clan of the Thirteen Vampire Clans. My father wanted nothing to do with me or my mother but he still sent us some money every month for the last hundred years or so. I was banned by my father from ever stepping foot into Romania, since that is where the Vampire Council is located, or from revealing my father's name to anyone. It would have been much easier to do that if I didn't look like a carbon copy of my father."

Andreas let out a bitter laugh causing Harry's heart to ache a little bit when he realized just how much the child would have been hurt to be rejected by his father like that. Harry sidled up a little bit on the bench so that he sat pressed up next to the vampire and laid a comforting hand on his knee.

Andreas smiled at him sideways with a warm look in his eyes before continuing, "However, I had learned to live by that and had been happily ignoring my father and the vampire politics and such things. I had enough money to travel around and learn whatever I wanted. And so I did. Until that idiot half-brother of mine had to go and get himself killed in a duel. I didn't give it much thought until I heard that my dear goddamn father had ordered a search party to be sent out to find me. Apparently, his wife had killed herself after her son's death or more likely murdered by the other clan members and my father himself is on his death bed after having ingested a poison that would slowly kill him within a few months, so he had no choice but to reveal that he had an illegitimate son rather than risk the possibility of his clan dissolving."

"What would happen if a clan dissolves?" Harry enquired. He hadn't started his politics lessons yet and he was very much curious about how the vampires politics worked.

"The members of the dissolved clan are given the option of joining any one of the remaining clans. They usually chose the clan based on the policies and rules the different clans follow and implement. As of now, of the original thirteen clans, only seven clans remain. Anyway, I heard the news when I was visiting England, so I decided to go into hiding. The best place I knew here was Gringotts. So, I had myself incriminated as a thief and they sent me to their prison. I was quite safe there. Then when Fireclaw offered this option to me, it was hard to resist; so I accepted. If my father had spoken to me at least once before all this happened, I would have gone to meet him in a heartbeat when he called for me. But, no, calling me was a last resort. I was a last resort. I always was."

Andreas bowed his head letting his hair fall onto his eyes, effectively hiding his expression with his shoulders slumped slightly. Harry grabbed Andreas' chin so that he could look into his eyes and assure him that that was not the case, that he was not a last resort to anyone and just what exactly Harry thought of his father and where his father could go and shove up a stick at. But, Harry stopped short at seeing the vulnerable look in the vampire's eyes. He had always seen Andreas as cocky, self-confident and down-right smug and now, to see him so vulnerable, Harry didn't think twice before pressing his lips against the vampire's and murmuring soothing words about what he, Harry would do to his father when he got hold of him and the different types of torture he would use that he had in his arsenal before the bastard died begging for death.

Andreas had been shocked when Harry had pressed his lips against his and a grin began forming on his lips as he listened to Harry who was quite happily describing the various creative tortures his father would be subjected to once Harry got hold of him. A jolt of desire passed through him when he realized how close Harry had pressed himself into him.

Ever since he had laid his eyes on the beautiful teen, he'd been enthralled by his power and couldn't help but be attracted to him. It had become even more intense since they had started their training. But what he hadn't expected was the barrage of emotions he seemed to possess for Harry. He wouldn't call it love yet, but he knew it was definitely heading in that direction. Even as he realized this, he also knew that Harry didn't feel anything of that sort for him, maybe except for his teenage hormones acting up in his presence.

He envied the person who would one day capture his Harry's heart. He truly did. As much as cruelness and hatred Harry exhibited sometimes when he spoke of his plans, he also possessed a soft heart when he spoke of his few friends. His eyes would light up so that the whirlpool of green in his eyes would swirl pulling him in, making him agree with whatever he was saying. Such was the ability Harry possessed. It was almost enthralling listening to him speak about the future. He would make a fine leader when the time came. And he would follow him and protect him, even if it was the last thing he did.

But for now, Harry was his and he was a selfish man. He would hoard each and every one of his moments with Harry so that he wouldn't regret when his Harry was out of his reach. With that in mind, he tilted Harry's chin up and crushed his lips against the soft inviting red ones.

**[(-XX:::::::OOO:::::::XX-)]**

Harry watched in irritation at the four idiots who called themselves his ancestors exchange smirks, sniggers, knowing looks, and merlin, were those coins? at his flushed face and swollen lips and a small hickey on his jawline.

"Were you betting on me?", Harry demanded indignantly.

"Nope," Javed replied with a straight face, even as he pocketed some weird square shaped gold coins which was most likely the currency they had used when they were alive.

Harry huffed and shot a pointed look at his pocket.

"Oh fine. Yes. But you were taking such a long time in responding to the vampire's advances that we couldn't resist betting on how long it would take for you to respond."

Harry gave them a dirty look before slumping on the salamander skinned armchair. His thoughts drifted to Andreas and he couldn't contain his blush. It had been his first kiss. At least his first proper kiss. Cho didn't count.

When he saw that the Dark Ones were again starting to grin at his blushing, Harry hastily closed his eyes and started meditating like he had been instructed to in his first class with the Dark Ones. At first, it had been very difficult to go into a sort of a trance because he got distracted even with a smallest sound thanks to his increased hearing. It was a blessing in a sense, he supposed, but unfortunately it didn't help him in this case.

But after much meditating, he had begun to get in touch with his core. In the beginning, he had had a difficult time when trying to come in contact with his core. It had remained untouchable. It was as if the bleeding core was sentient which he knew was true to a certain extent and it had loathed to be accessible to him. So much so that he had started getting shivers after a single brush with it.

The Dark Ones had informed him that it was just a defensive mechanism his core employed in order to keep him away from it. They had told him that it would take time and plenty of work. But he didn't know it would take this much. But, his ancestors had assured him that the end result would be worth it. They told him that it would help him in getting precise control over his wandless abilities.

The only thing that kept him from giving up outright was the fact that he would be able to use his new wand if he were to control his magic; otherwise, he would be held back by the promise he had made to Maeve the Wandmaker. Also, he had been encouraged by Seshafi's gleeful comment that he would be able to experience the glorious seductive power he had first experienced when he had gone through the Change. That alone had been enough to persuade him to continue.

Harry cleared his head of all niggling thoughts and simply let himself enjoy the feel of magic coursing through his veins. Slowly, he latched on to a thread of magic and let himself be guided near his core.

Just as before, he was buffeted by a gust of coldness that seemed to freeze him to his bones. But he hardly flinched as he had gotten quite used to the weird sensation. As he slowly began to get nearer his core, he felt pain and a burning sensation emanating from the tattoo on his back like he had felt the last few times he had reached the same proximity with his core.

Undeterred, Harry waded on through the repelling waves of magic that seemed intent on driving him out. As Harry neared closer, the burning on his back escalated so much that Harry dearly hoped that he wouldn't be met with a charred back when he returned from his reverie.

Harry gritted his teeth and trudged onward despite the urge to keel over. He could almost feel the anger and desperation from his core as he neared it. That meant he was indeed nearing it; unlike the last time he'd been going in circles without any idea where exactly his core was inside all that freezing cold winds. Yes! There. He could see it clearly now. A glowing mass of jet black surrounded by every which colour with a predominant green hue to it.

Harry mentally reached out to touch it. The pain he seemed to be experiencing faded to nothing just before he laid a hand on it. He should have known not to touch it. The absence of pain should have been the first indicator that something was not right; something was suspicious. But he didn't. Then, Harry let out a harsh scream that seemed to echo throughout the tower.

A scream of such raw pain that everyone of his teachers rushed to see what was happening; Andreas being the first among them followed by tiny Flitwick. But they were all stopped at the doorway of the living room when they tried to enter it by a visible shimmering grey barrier appearing before them keeping them out.

Andreas stilled when he saw Harry on the floor, his back arched and writhing on the hard floor where he seemed to have fallen off from the armchair, his mouth parted in a scream, his eyes wide in untold pain. A black and green glow seemed to envelop his entire being.

Andreas' eyes quickly searched out for the portraits of the Dark Ones' whom he knew would hold the answers to whatever it was that was happening. But he stopped short when he noticed that the Dark Ones looked pale, paler than normal, almost white-faced, their expressions frightened but what had his heart clenching in dread was the emotion in their eyes. Fear.

Andreas quickly gathered his nerves and asked, "What in the bleeding hell is happening to him?"

The four of them hardly glanced in his direction, so fixated were they on their heir, their son, but Galena murmured out loud, loud enough for him to pick it up with his sharp hearing, "His magic. It's gaining control of him. If it does; if it does, Harry will be lost to us."

All of them watched in silence as the teen continued to wage a battle in his own mind.

Harry knew what was happening to him even as he fought against it. They had warned him this might happen. His magic was wild. Primeval. A form of raw magic at the brink of its evolution. But he never knew it would be like this. So powerful that it was able to cause him so much pain with one blow to his mind. It was worse than a hundred cruciatus curses put together. This. This felt like as if his soul itself was devoured by his magic.

This couldn't be happening. Not now. Not when he had a fighting chance and had the ability to change the magical world for the better. He couldn't give up now. But it was so hard. He just wanted to curl into a ball and die.

But if he did that, wouldn't that mean he would be letting down his ancestors? For all his scowling and snarking at them, he had come to love them in his own way from his time spent here.

Then what about his friends who would go to war only to die to set their world free from a tyrant and then only for another to take his place. Unbidden, a memory of a blonde slytherin entered his mind in addition to the faces of his friends. What would happen to the loyal badgers whom had pledged their loyalty to him? They would all perish. But no, he wouldn't let that happen if he had anything to say about it.

With that thought in mind, Harry gritted his teeth and took control of what little will power he still possessed after the thorough battering his mind had taken from the invading presence of his magic. Harry gathered every iota of fortitude he possessed and forged into a weapon he felt comfortable with which actually turned out to be a beater's club, probably since he was a fair beater. For the first time, since his Change, he was scared of losing himself like Fireclaw had warned him. Harry let all his fear and rage at the current situation out, propelling him to strike a hard, devastating blow against the insidious presence that was trying to worm itself into his very mind. Harry didn't stop but instead kept striking again and again, without stopping, letting out all of the turbulent emotions that besieged him.

Even as he tried to exert his force of will on the foreign presence in his mind, it slowly, but surely started receding, as if acknowledging its defeat to him as the slimy, twisted feeling he'd been getting from it changed into a warm, pleasant and powerful sensation.

Then a female voice which was as calm as an ocean's gentlest breeze yet as fierce as a raging thunder storm seemed to echo his mind.

'Harry Potter O'Dorchaidhe. You have passed my test, childe of mine. I deem you worthy to be a wielder of my magic. I submit to you.'

All of them watched in trepidation as the screaming had tapered off to mere whimpering then finally to an uneasy stillness. Even the writhing had stopped to just some odd tremors and fits. Harry 's expression had twisted from outright misery and pain into an intense determination; although the signs of pain still seemed to be visible around the eyes and mouth . They looked on in horrified fascination as the former black glow surrounding him receded and he was once again enveloped in a green glow which had every colour imaginable threaded in loops around it before it faded as well.

The pained expression on his face then entirely disappeared to be replaced by a small content smile. Andreas marvelled at how young and innocent Harry looked when he had his guard down.

Harry slowly opened his startling emerald pools and glanced around at the concerned faces peering at him. Then he moved his focus onto the worried looking Dark Ones and cheekily shot them a smug grin and a thumbs-up. Seeing that, the four of them seemed to let out a relieved breath at the same time; apparently reassured by his still same as ever cocky behaviour.

"Are you alright?" Flitwick asked.

"I'm alright. I don't feel any pain if that is what you're asking. In fact, I've never felt better than I do now."

And he wasn't just saying that either. He did truly feel better. When the presence in his mind had left, he had been filled with a rush of warmth that had seemed to soothe all the pains and worries he'd been feeling up until then. He didn't even feel the signs of a faint headache nor was he met with a sight of his charred back like he'd been half expecting to.

Although they didn't look very convinced, not that he blamed them, what with all the screaming he'd been doing, they didn't press the topic further.

"I find that kind of hard to believe. But we'll take your word for it. However, we'll rest more easily if you would take some potions." Burkes informed him, then his expression turned teasing."Especially Andreas here. You had him very worried, Harry. Maybe you should reassure him in private that you are indeed truly feeling well. I believe he'll appreciate that a lot."

Really, how was it that everyone seem to know that there was something going on between them?

"Very funny," Harry told him. Although he shot a small affectionate smile at Andreas who returned it in kind.

Harry wasn't sure whether he felt anything serious for Andreas, but he for one thing was sure that he was very much fond of the handsome vampire. Besides, Andreas was probably the one person he trusted to an extent; other than his ancestors of course. Andreas was more like his confidante. Maybe they could end up being great friends. Friends with benefits. Maybe.

**[(-XX:::::::OOO:::::::XX-)]**

Harry woke up on the couch that he'd insisted on sleeping on last night. Really, the couch was damn too comfortable for its own good. It practically moulded itself to his form and almost swallowed him when he slept. Harry made a mental note to research the spell and to have it cast on his own bed once he returned to Hogwarts.

Harry yawned and blinked sleepily, ruffling his hair.

"Are you aware that your hair resembles a bird's nest more than anything," Agron commented.

Harry grinned. "Yes, I'm aware. But thank you."

"Incorrigible brat."

Harry mock glared. "Oooh...I'm hurt. By the way, I've been meaning to tell you something, but it just kept slipping my mind."

"Hmmm...And what would that be?"

"Did I mention that I killed two low lives when I went to Knockturn alley?" Harry mentioned casually waiting for them to react.

Javed whistled lowly in appreciation. "No. You didn't. How could something like that have slipped your mind?" Javed wondered aloud.

Harry smirked and rushed out of the hall with a shout of 'Hold on a sec' and was back in record time holding the sheathed Cursed dagger in his right hand.

Harry then proceeded to explain how he had come to acquire it. They gasped in appreciation at the beauty of the dagger.

"This is one of a kind. A masterpiece if I ever saw one. I doubt even I could create such a beautiful and deadly dagger," Galena murmured wistfully. She was a master at both wielding as well as at crafting daggers and knives.

"Anyway, the dagger's not the point. I wanted to talk to you about the emotions I'm feeling -or lack thereof. I think something might be wrong with me. You see, when I killed those dirt bags, I expected to feel some remorse or at least some guilt. But I felt neither. As if that isn't bad enough, I actually wanted to kill them when I could have left the place without confronting them. Instead I wanted to attack them and even felt somewhat satisfied when I finished them off", Harry confessed quietly. It had been on his mind for a while now but he had banished the nagging to a corner of his mind until it had resurfaced now.

Harry was quite surprised that he'd found it within him to confess those things to his ancestors. Because that meant that he trusted them. Although the fact that they were portraits might also have been a contributing factor for him to place his trust in them.

Harry curiously watched them exchange understanding looks.

"We actually were waiting for you to broach this topic," Galena admitted.

"Huh...what?" was the only reply Harry could think of. Did that mean what he was not feeling was normal?

"You probably know by now that you and the four of us are the only ones of our kind and so, we can know about ourselves only by experience and sometimes theorizing. Now we'll tell you what we do know to the best extent possible."

Harry acquiesced with a nod of his head.

"First of all, you need to understand that we are a hunter type of creatures. We speculate that we might be distant cousins to the vampires because of the similarities in our abilities as well as our slight fondness for blood. You'll most probably start experiencing that sometime soon in the future. If you haven't already, that is."

"Wait. Hold on a second. I perfectly recall Fireclaw telling me after I went through the Change that I am _mostly_ a human, only with some creature tendencies added in which I had gotten from you. He didn't mention anything about me being _entirely_ a creature."

Javed blinked. "Oh."

Harry looked at them impatiently, waiting for their answer. He'd been very curious about this actually. Even after Fireclaw had assured him that he was still a human, he had not believed it completely. How could he, when all his abilities pointed out to the contrary. It had passed the point of _'creature tendencies'_ when he had started his training sessions with Andreas. Really, how on earth could a normal human defeat a vampire in a fight without the use of magic, Harry reasoned to himself.

"Harry, if you were a mere human, then you would not have been able to possess that much power you have now. It confounds us as well, since the ritual we did was somewhat different. It was one where the Chosen One would remain a human with the ability to use some of our powers. And so, we refrained from performing a ritual which would have changed the Chosen One from a human to creature, since we believed that the person would surely be killed from the power overload.

But something different happened with you. We are not sure what it is, but the end result is different from what was supposed to be. You ended up as a creature instead of as a human. It's an anomaly. You are an anomaly," Seshafi told him affectionately.

"You say that like it's a good thing," Harry remarked in a dubious tone.

"It is. You are our heir and of course, you cannot be anything but be extraordinary. After all, we're special," Agron drawled haughtily, eerily reminding him of the Malfoys. Harry chuckled.

"You do not want to know who you just reminded me of," Harry informed him. Agron just shot him an affected look in return.

"Does this bother you, Harry? You being a creature?" Galena asked him gently.

Harry pondered for a moment before replying, "Nah. It's all the same to me. Anyway, what were you saying about us having a fondness for blood before I interrupted?"

"Oh yes. It won't be anything drastic, I assure you. Just that you might like your steaks a bit rare and things like that. You would also probably have a tendency to bite your partner when in the throes of passion," Javed smirked, wiggling an eyebrow at him.

Seshafi shot him a look before continuing, "Now then. As I as saying before you interrupted me, you have to remember that we are hunters first and foremost. So, from what we've experienced, we noticed that we usually tend to care a lot about whom we consider _family_. But when faced with a threat, our first instinct is to attack and after dealing with them, we tend to feel _satisfied_ that the threat has been taken care of. It is in our nature. Because of our more predator like mentality, we _do not_ suffer from any of the _self-incriminating emotions_ that seems to besiege these humans. So, you may rest assured that there is _nothing_ wrong with you as you seem inclined to believe."

Harry nodded. He supposed that what she said did make a weird kind of sense.

"Now why don't you go and look at the side table. Andreas seems to have left something there for you. Something I'm sure you'll very much appreciate."

Harry glanced around and his eyes widened when he laid his eyes on the black velvet box placed on the small side table next to the couch he'd been sleeping on. Bless Andreas. He'd completely forgotten that he would be able to use his custom-made wand now that he finally had his magic under his command.

Harry gently removed the lid of the box and peered into it. Resting on a slip of satin cloth was his beautiful wand as the black star sapphire embedded into its centre glinted from the lamp light reflecting on it.

Harry reverently removed the wand from the box handle-first. As he firmly wrapped his fingers around the hilt, an intense surge of warmth rushed through him causing a small sound of pleasure to escape his lips at the seductive power that coursed through his veins. Harry gently twirled the wand between his fingertips. _So powerful_ , he mused before a truly malicious smirk lit up his face when he realized just who all would be at the other end of his wand. Oh yes, he was going to have a lot of fun in the near future.

* * *

 

**A/N:** Hey everyone! Hope you all liked the chapter! Please don't flame me if any of you are really pissed off that Harry kissed Andreas. I can't help but get them together whenever I start writing about these two hot guys. But not to worry, they won't go all the way. It's always Draco for Harry  **;)**

**So, what would you like to see next? Should I go into detail about Harry's training? Or should I just be brief and skip it slightly to move the story forward? Are there any scenes you would like me to write about? Between Harry and Andreas maybe? Any ability you would like Harry to have?**

**Guys, REVIEW. It takes hours for me to write a chapter and it would only take you a minute to show me your appreciation. So, please review and no flames please.**


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